Digital Archiving Resources

Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation: A Report to the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Title

Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation: A Report to the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Subject

Curation

Description

Jeff Rothenber’s Avoiding Technological Quicksand addresses the fragility of digital documents and information, and suggests that “emulation” is the most reliable way to prolong the life of data, while also discussing the limitations of several previous attempts and arguments about creating persistent digital artifacts. He discusses the idea of obsolescence at length, noting that the loss of systems, hardware, and software required to access digital documents is a primary concern for libraries and archives that wish to preserve the longevity of digital documents in their collections. He offers a theoretical framework for considering the design and implementation of systems that would extend the life of digital artifacts by making them transferable into other formats. He suggest that emulation, or the ability to mimic the functionality of software and hardware through new interfaces should be the focus of digital archival research aimed to prolong the quality of, and access to the digital information archivists are trying to maintain.

Creator

Rothenberg, Jeff

Date

1999

Contributor

Foley, Christopher

Type

E-Book

Identifier

ISBN 1-887334-63-7

Bibliographic Citation

Rothenberg, Jeff. Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation: A Report to the Council on Library and Information Resources. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 1999.

Files

coverpub77small.gif

Citation

Rothenberg, Jeff, “Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation: A Report to the Council on Library and Information Resources.,” Digital Archiving Resources, accessed March 28, 2024, https://dar.cah.ucf.edu/items/show/243.