Preserving Complex Digital Objects

Citation

Sarah Higgins (2015), "Preserving Complex Digital Objects", Records Management Journal, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 306-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-07-2015-0025

Preserving Complex Digital Objects addresses how complex digital objects – those made by combining more than one discrete digital object – can be successfully preserved for long-term access and usability. More difficult than preserving simple digital objects, this area has received less research attention, despite the evident need for robust methods becoming critical for business, leisure and heritage activities alike.

The book is a series of essays recording the input to the project Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia (POCOS) which ran from February 2011 to March 2012. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the project aimed to “share and thereby extend the body of knowledge” on the preservation of complex digital objects through a series of three symposia that would “present material of great technological and organisational complexity in a lucid, cogent, relevant and approachable manner” (POCOS, 2012). The project symposia took place in June 2011, October 2011 and January 2012, with each focussing on a different type of born-digital content: visualisations and simulations, software art and gaming environments and virtual worlds.

There is much to learn throughout the book about the challenges faced in preserving digital objects that “evince a high level of complication” (Delve and Anderson, 2014, p. 355) and the methods being used by different organisations and projects as they try to achieve it. Lessons can be extrapolated from much of the content for those working with more routine complex digital objects such as business records, or even databases, especially as the book focuses on the technically challenging emulation preservation strategy, rather than the more familiar migration path while considering metadata and documentation needs in detail.

There are some excellent essays presented – most notably a case-study from the Archaeology Data Service (Jenny Mitcham) and the little considered need to preserve software (Neil Chue Hong and Brian Matthews, Arif Shaon and Esther Conway). The section on Metadata, paradata and documentation – along with the allied chapter on Preserving interaction (Daisy Abbot) – is particularly strong. Less convincing are the chapters dealing with Why and what to preserve, with compelling reasons for undertaking preservation activities not comprehensibly articulated.

The book works well, if viewed as it is a set of conference proceedings, and chapters are not read consecutively. However, as a book, it lacks coherence, with some essays explaining the basic concepts of digital preservation, while others assuming a higher level of knowledge. Unlike the content themed symposia it records, the book is organised into sections themed according to the preservation activity they address. This gives the publication a rather disjointed feel, as it jumps between different content types. Some chapters appear to be completely out-of-place for a coherent narrative to emerge. Introducing Digital preservation challenges (Chapter 11) halfway through the volume and the provision of a definition of a complex digital object (finally) on page 335 were most notable. It is worth noting that the original themed e-books generated from the conference and video recordings of proceedings are available online (www.cdpa.co.uk/POCOS/deliverables.php).

The final chapter: Pathfinder conclusions pulls together the themes, addressed throughout the book, by identifying the general challenges faced in developing digital preservation strategies (largely Chapter 11 repeated verbatim) and specific challenges for the publishers of computer games, along with some practical issues relating to the publishers of computer games and preserving digital art, gaming environments and virtual worlds.

POCOS was an awareness raising project which shared work in progress “to stimulate debate and glean opinion, rather than specify already established axioms and approaches” (Delve and Anderson, 2014, p.355). In codifying the process into a book, the editors have helped us learn about preserving complex digital objects by capturing the state-of-play in 2011-2012. Readers ready to learn lessons from those engaged in tackling the complex problems encountered when preserving complex digital objects will find much to help them move forward in their own endeavours. Readers hoping for a comprehensive “how-to-do-it” instruction manual will be disappointed.