Practical experiences of the Dutch digital preservation test‐bed

Abstract

Digital Preservation test‐bed is a three‐year practical research project with the overall goal of investigating options to secure sustained accessibility to authentic archival records over the long‐term, by carrying out experiments in a controlled and secure environment. This allows one to ascertain the effects of undertaken preservation action on archival records. Test‐bed is researching three different approaches to long‐term digital preservation: migration, XML and emulation. Not only will the effectiveness of each approach be evaluated, but also their limits, costs and application potential. Experiments take place on four different record types: text documents, spreadsheets, emails and databases of different size, complexity and nature. At the end of 2003 the digital preservation test‐bed project was to provide: advice on how to deal with current digital records, recommendations for an appropriate preservation approach or a combination of approaches per record type, functional requirements for a preservation function, cost models of the various preservation strategies, a decision model to select the right preservation strategy, and recommendations concerning archival guidelines and regulations.

Citation

Verdegem, R. and Slats, J. (2004), "Practical experiences of the Dutch digital preservation test‐bed", VINE, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 56-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720410531004