Solutions for Avoiding Digital Obsolescence
Digital Preservation
Digital Preservation refers to the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary. It refers to all of the actions required to maintain access to digital materials beyond the limits of media failure or technological change.
There are three types of digital preservation:
There are three types of digital preservation:
- Long-term preservation - Continued access to digital materials, or at least to the information contained in them, indefinitely.
- Medium-term preservation - Continued access to digital materials beyond changes in technology for a defined period of time but not indefinitely.
- Short-term preservation - Access to digital materials either for a defined period of time while use is predicted but which does not extend beyond the foreseeable future and/or until it becomes inaccessible because of changes in technology.
The Digital Preservation Centre is an institution similar to the Digital Curation Centre. They are also based out of the United Kingdom. They are just one company that seeks to archive and provide longevity for digital data. They are one of the many 'backup' databases that companies like Gale or Proquest would trust with their digital archives.