A Blueprint for Representation Information in the OAIS Model

The CEDARS∗ project within UK academia seeks to develop a demonstrator system to recommend techniques for long-term storage of digital data primarily within the research library context. The intention is that this demonstrator will conform to (the spirit of) the OAIS (Open Archival Information System) model [1], and put some flesh on the model’s generic bones. This paper describes our current scheme for representation information. 1 Overview We are firmly of the opinion that data outlives the medium upon which it is recorded. Technology obsolescence is a bigger threat to data retention than is media drop-out. For example, failure to read a reel of 7-track magnetic tape is more likely to be due to nonavailability of the tape drive than drop-out on the medium. However, a bit-stream can be preserved indefinitely [2,3]. Our blueprint provides for transforming of a digital object into a bit-stream preserved indefinitely, and for subsequent access to the intellectual content of the orig...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: MSS
• Authors: David Holdsworth, Derek M. Sergeant
• Keywords: American Standard Code For Information Interchange, Hardware, Ingest, Ingest Process, MSS 2000