An Infrastructure for Preservation

1
An Infrastructure for Preservation

• Claudio Prandoni
• Marlis Valentini
• MetaWare SpA CASPAR

2
Programme

• Digital preservation threats and requisites
• Summary of OAIS model
• From OAIS to CASPAR
• CASPAR key components
• Ex. 1 Preservation step by step
• Demo A simple web application
• Ex. 2 CASPAR answers to preservation threats
• A preservable architecture
• Interviews Two case studies

3
Introduction

• How can digital data still be used and understood
  in the future when systems, software, and
  everyday knowledge continues to change? This is
  the CASPAR challenge.

4
Preservation Issue 1

• Users may be unable to understand or use the data
  e.g. the semantics, format, processes or
  algorithms involved
• How to guarantee digital information may be
  accessed and understood in the future?
• How to guarantee retrieval of Archival
  Information?
• How to guarantee intelligibility of digital
  information within heterogeneous Designated
  Communities?

5
Preservation Issue 2

• Non-maintainability of essential hardware,
  software or support environment may make the
  information inaccessible
• How to guarantee preservation actors are informed
  about change events?
• How to guarantee appropriate actions are
  undertaken to preserve Archival Information
  against change events?

6
Preservation Issue 3

• The chain of evidence may be lost and there may
  be lack of certainty of provenance or
  authenticity
• How to guarantee an adequate integrity and
  identity for any Archival Information?

7
Preservation Issue 4

• Access and use restrictions may make it difficult
  to reuse data, or alternatively may not be
  respected in future
• How to guarantee an adequate security access with
  the proper rights to any resource and
  functionality within an Archive?

8
Preservation Issue 5

• The current custodian of the data, whether an
  organisation or project, may cease to exist at
  some point in the future
• How to guarantee a proper information package
  management within and Archive?
• How to guarantee long-time preservation
  maintenance of any information package?

9
The CASPAR Project

• The CASPAR project is mainly based on the OAIS
  standard ISO147212003
• In this perspective, its Architecture is defined
  for
• Managing key concepts of the OAIS reference model
• Supporting main functionality identified in the
  OAIS functional model
• Moreover, the CASPAR project aims to define and
  implement interfaces and functionally independent
  components

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OAIS Information Model
Descriptive Information
Information Package
Primary focus of archival preservation
Needed for discovery
Preservation Description Information
Needed for long-term preservation
Content Information
interpreted using
Data Object
interpreted using
Representation Information
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OAIS Functional Model
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CASPAR Implementation
Query Processing
Retrieval
Populate Descriptive Info
Delivery
Maintain Descriptive Info
Perform Transformation
Access Descriptive Info
Receive SIP
Security
Q-check on SIP
Access Control
Generate AIP
Extract DescInfo
Monitoring OAIS Environment
AIP Storage
Coordinate updates
Detect Changes/Impacts in DCKB
AIP Maintenance
Mapping out Preservation Strategy
AIP Retrieval
Provide Recommendations
13
CASPAR Implementation
14
CASPAR key components
15
CASPAR key components
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The CASPAR Workflow
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Preservation step by step
2) The digital content object has to be
retrieved within the digital archive, through
its descriptive information, and checked for
any restricting access right policy.
1) The digital content object has to be
prepared and packed in a proper way to be
ingested in the digital archive system that
will manage and maintain it for a long time.
3) The digital content object within the digital
archive needs to be maintained in order to be
accessed, used and understood for whatever
changes during its long-term lifecycle.
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Ingestion steps
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Ingestion Phase
Information Packaging Components

• Ingest Content Information
• Create Information Package
• Representation Info
• Descriptive Info
• Preservation Description Info
• Check Information Package
• Store Information Package for long term

OAIS
Preservation Planning
Ingest
Data Management
Access
Archival Storage
Administration
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Access steps
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Access Phase
Information Access Components

• Search Content Information
• Obtain Information Packages and relative Contents
  and Descriptions
• Check Content Access Permissions

OAIS
Preservation Planning
Ingest
Data Management
Access
Archival Storage
Administration
22
Preservation steps
23
Preservation Phase
Communication Components

• Notify and Alert for Change Event impacting long
  term preservation
• Trigger Preservation Process

OAIS
Preservation Planning
Ingest
Data Management
Access
Archival Storage
Administration
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CASPAR innovations

• CASPAR aims at preserving not only the bits of
  digital objects but also the information and
  knowledge that is encoded in digital objects
• CASPAR aims at preserving digital rights on
  contents and at identifying mechanisms to ensure
  maintenance and verification of the authenticity
  of digital objects along the whole preservation
  process

25
Phaistos disk (1700 BC)
We still cannot understand it (the meaning has
not been preserved)
We can only understand its a sequence of
symbols
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Rosetta Stone (196 BC)
just a sequence of symbols but
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Additional components
Designated Community Knowledge Management

• Deal with Designated Community Profile and its
  own Knowledge Base
• Identify and Provide Knowledge Gap for
  understanding a Content Information

Provenance Management

• Deal with Digital Rights
• Guarantee Authenticity

28
Web Application
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CASPAR answers

• So
• Is CASPAR solution able to provide an answer to
  the digital preservation issues identified at the
  beginning?

30
Preservation Issue 1

• Users may be unable to understand or use the data
  e.g. the semantics, format, processes or
  algorithms involved
• You need the ability to create and maintain
  adequate Representation Information

31
Preservation Issue 1

• To guarantee a digital information may be
  accessed and understood in the future, you need
  an adequate OAIS Representation Information
• To guarantee retrieval of Archival Information,
  you need an OAIS Finding Aids
• To guarantee intelligibility of digital
  information within heterogeneous Designated
  Communities, you need to manage DC Profiles and
  their Knowledge Base

32
Preservation Issue 2

• Non-maintainability of essential hardware,
  software or support environment may make the
  information inaccessible
• You need the ability to share information about
  the availability of hardware and software and
  their replacements/substitutes

33
Preservation Issue 2

• To guarantee preservation actors are informed
  about change events, you need an adequate
  management of message exchange
• To guarantee appropriate actions are undertaken
  to preserve Archival Information against change
  events, you need to identify the information to
  be added/modified

34
Preservation Issue 3

• The chain of evidence may be lost and there may
  be lack of certainty of provenance or
  authenticity
• You need the ability to bring together evidence
  from diverse sources about the Authenticity of a
  digital object

35
Preservation Issue 3

• To guarantee an adequate integrity and identity
  for any Archival Information, you need an
  Authenticity Tool

36
Preservation Issue 4

• Access and use restrictions may make it difficult
  to reuse data, or alternatively may not be
  respected in future
• You need the ability to deal with Digital Rights
  correctly in a changing and evolving environment

37
Preservation Issue 4

• To guarantee an adequate security access with the
  proper rights to any resource and functionality
  within an OAIS Archive, you need a Security and
  DRM Management

38
Preservation Issue 5

• The current custodian of the data, whether an
  organisation or project, may cease to exist at
  some point in the future
• You need brokering of organisations to hold data
  and the ability to package together the
  information needed to transfer information
  between organisations ready for long term
  preservation

39
Preservation Issue 5

• To guarantee a proper information package
  management within and OAIS Archive, you need to
  create an adequate OAIS Information Package
• To guarantee long-time preservation maintenance
  of any information package, you need an
  implementation of OAIS Archival Storage

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Conclusion
KeyComponents
GapManager
DataAccessSecurity
RepInfoToolbox
Orchestration
Registry
SemanticWeb
Packaging
DigitalRights
FindingAids
DataStores
Virtualisation
Authenticity
Framework
CASPAR Service Factory
The CASPAR Foundation
Application Server Tomcat, Glassfish, WASCE
Development Framework JAX-WS, GWT, Ant
Development Management Hudson and JTrac
Platform
DBMS H2, Postgres
Java Platform
Operating System Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac
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Preservable Equation
Pure Service-oriented design guarantees that the
component can provide functionality without
requiring cooperation of other components

• No Dependencies
• Loosely coupled
• Distributed

Self-Contained Well Described Adaptable
Replaceable Preservable

• Sharing know-how
• Open Specification
• Open Source
• Open Documentation

Component analysis, design and development
process is strongly based on complete shared
open documentation at any level
Design choices and implementation allows to adapt
and configure each component to provide always at
least a minimal set of functionality
independently from the deployment framework and
condition

• Flexibility
• Scalability

Design choices and implementation allows to
replace any component in the framework with
compliant one.

• Interoperability
• Mantainability

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The Developer Community

• http//developers.casparpreserves.eu8080
• Shared and cooperative development community
  based on
• CASPAR Best Practices
• Development Management based on a detailed
• D1302 Overall Master Plan
• Refinement Specifications
• Development Control based on a Continuous
  Integration Engine
• Hudson JTrac
• Specification, Software and Documentation
  available for developers practitioners

43
CASPAR Preservation Nodes
44
Use cases

• Artistic Testbed IRCAM
• Scientific Testbed ESA

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