Preserv2

Preserv 2 final report 'candid and realistic'

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:24:55 +0000

The final report from the Preserv 2 project has been described by the JISC programme manager responsible for funding the project, Neil Grindley, as ”candid and realistic about the current state of preservation thinking vis-a-vis repositories but also points to some ways forward in terms of how we (the preservation community) might more productively push what we do.” Final project reports are intended to be both a record of the work of a project, providing a legacy and hopefully providing a step-off point for others to build on. Grindley says: “The section on outputs and results contains useful practical illustrative information. The recommendations seem sensible; there is evidence the project has had impact, especially the creation of the storage controller and its implementation into EPrints version 3.2.” How the work is being taken forward in the new JISC KeepIt project is explained in a blog post from that project.

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Preserv passes repository preservation torch to new KeepIt project

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:42:26 +0100

Foundations for managing and preserving digital objects in repositories developed during the two phases of the Preserv project will be applied to a series of distinctive exemplar repositories in a new JISC project, called KeepIt. Beginning in April 2009, the project will enable a diverse range of digital content presented by institutional repositories - research papers, science data, arts, teaching materials and theses - to be managed effectively today, tomorrow and beyond. Each type of material presents a different challenge to digital preservation practices if these materials are to be effectively managed for longer-term access and use. The managers and representatives of the repositories, which are each based on EPrints software and have been incubated or developed with support from the EPrints team, will liaise on the development of preservation strategy, policy and services for repositories, and in turn each repository will become a peer evangelist for comparable repositories.

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Preserv features in podcast on repository preservation

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:19:34 +0000

Dave Tarrant from Preserv is one of the featured speakers in a new podcast on repository preservation from the Repositories Support Project, which is presented by Steve Hitchcock, also from Preserv. In Digital preservation: are repositories doing enough for preservation? speakers from the DPC workshop on Tackling the Preservation Challenge tell us about practical tools and services to help repositories. Tarrant talks about EPrints software, explaining how its modular, plug-in architecture utilises external services and cloud storage to support repository preservation. Hitchcock concludes the podcast by asserting "It's not enough for repositories to sit back and wait for preservation services - they have to specify what they want, to be user-centred, to establish policies".

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From desktop to cloud via a repository: a cloud you can depend on!

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:43:44 +0000

Preserv blogged shock! "Moving your data into the cloud is a bit like moving your stuff into an unfurnished apartment. You get an awful lot of space to put things, once a month you have to pay the landlord, and you end up with absolutely nothing available to help you to organise and look after your things. Dave Tarrant has extended EPrints to use cloud storage services as part of JISC's PRESERV2 project. That tackles the technical part of the problem - how to join up repositories with the cloud ... For the researcher who is tempted by the expansion capacity that the cloud's metaphorical unfurnished apartment offers them, the repository could offer a removal van, a concierge, a security guard, a cleaner and an expandable set of prefabricated cupboards and walk-in wardrobes. Not naked cloud storage, but storage that is mediated, managed and moderated on the researcher's behalf by the institution, so that they have the assurance that their data is not stranded and susceptible to the irregularities of cloud service provider SLAs (service-level agreements). In other words, a cloud you can depend on!" Les Carr, Repository Man blog.
See also this extended abstract which describes the EPrints storage controller and assesses the types of storage it can work with.

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Paper reveals power of ORE for repository preservation

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:59:02 +0000

The emergence of OAI-ORE (Object Reuse and Exchange) has profound implications for digital collection management, and therefore for repositories and for the preservation of digital content. This has yet to be fully realised because ORE is new and its principal expression has been as a technical specification. The transformative power of ORE at a whole-repository level is revealed in a new paper in Ariadne by Sally Rumsey and Ben O'Steen from the Preserv 2 project. This gives a non-technical insight into ORE based on the example of the project's award-winning work that demonstrated data being copied simply from an EPrints repository to a Fedora repository, and then copied in the other direction, using the ORE framework.

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Preserv turns informant on repository preservation initiatives

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:04:55 +0100

Preserv has been updating two important communities on its work at international conferences being held in Providence, RI, and Baltimore, MD, on the East Coast USA. At the Digital Library Federation Fall Forum Sally Rumsey described 'smart storage', which combines massive storage with the intelligence provided through services. Aimed at repository and library managers, the presentation illustrated a flexible and practical approach for technical preservation activities, such as handling format issues. Dave Tarrant returned to speak at the latest Sun Preservation and Archiving Special Interest Group (PASIG) meeting, sparking a reappraisal of repository services and processes, and illustrating how and where services such as preservation can act in emerging repository architectures.

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From open to smart storage: Preserv 2 goes international

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:23:36 +0100

An important progression from open to smart storage will be presented in two papers to be given by Preserv at international meetings this month in Aarhus, Denmark, and at the British Library in London. Open storage combines open source software with standard hardware storage architectures and enables flexibility to connect different repository platforms. Smart storage combines an open storage approach with the intelligence provided through preservation tools and services. This should lead to an automated approach to massive storage and preservation management across many content sources.
Applying open storage to institutional repositories (extended abstract and presentation slides), DORSDL2 workshop at ECDL 2008, Aarhus
Towards smart storage for repository preservation services (full paper and presentation slides), iPRES 2008: The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects, London

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From Vegas to LoC: Preserv developers set for US tour with CRIG

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:08:44 +0100

Following their success in the CRIG developer challenge, Preserv developers Dave Tarrant and Ben O'Steen have been invited to join the CRIG Roadshow in the USA during the second half of July, taking in high-profile science and technology conferences in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and culminating in a RepoCamp at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The purpose of the roadshow is "to promote interoperability of repositories with other services", including preservation services. "It will be setting up a 'Developer Lounge' at each of the conference venues where people will be encouraged to stop by and pitch their innovative technology ideas. The developer team on hand at the lounge will look to create rapid prototypes of the ideas brought to us on the spot. We are hoping these rapid prototyping moments will help pragmatically identify the interfaces between repositories and other services." Follow their exploits via video blogs and other current regurgitative tools du jour.

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Preserv wins Developer Challenge

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:01:22 +0100

CRIG Repository Challenge winners. (L-R) Dave Tarrant, Tim Brody and Ben O'Steen, Preserv technical team past and present, won the $5000 challenge, based on voting among nearly 500 delegates at the international Open Repositories 2008 conference in Southampton. They beat a large field of contenders, including finalists from the USA and Australia, with a demo called Data Mining with ORE, in which they moved data simply from an EPrints repository to a Fedora repository, and then moved data in the other direction, using the OAI-Object Reuse and Exchange (ORE) framework. This approach has implications for repository data management and preservation. Play video of the demo, includes expert panel Q&A. See also University of Southampton, School of Electronics and Computer Science news release.

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How much is your repository doing to preserve its contents?

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:38:46 +0100

Probably more than you think. Find out by trying this preservation metadata worksheet, with accompanying slides, prepared by Preserv for a professional briefing event held by the JISC Repositories Support Project at the British Library.

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Preserv2 at PASIG Paris

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:38:20 +0100

Preserv 2 was twice mentioned in dispatches at the Sun Preservation and Archiving SIG meeting held in Paris (14-16 November):
Oxford Activities in Digital Preservation and Archiving and EPrints Update
Importantly, these presentations provide clues about the emerging shape of repository and preservation architectures.

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Preserv2 Wins New JISC Funding

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:37:48 +0100

Preserv 2 wins new JISC funding. We are delighted to announce that the project will extend its work on preservation for institutional repositories towards the end of 2008. For details of what the project will do, see the accepted proposal. Preserv 2 will go ahead with the same partners.

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Preserv

Digital Preservation Service Provider Models for IRs

Tue, 15 May 2007 10:37:07 +0100

Preserv paper Digital Preservation Service Provider Models for Institutional Repositories, D-Lib Magazine, May/June 2007, describes the evolution of a series of models that have informed progress towards the conception of flexible and distributed preservation services for IRs.

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Project Video Online

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:36:42 +0100

Preserv project video launched. Play Preserv Us! The story of the Preserv project by the people behind it (embedded player in this page). Read the article in Ariadne (April 2007) about the making of the video, with tips for producing other JISC project videos.

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Laying the Foundations for Repository Preservation Services

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 10:36:16 +0100

Laying the Foundations for Repository Preservation Services, the Final Report from the project reflects on outputs, outcomes, implications and recommendations.

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Concluding Preserv

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:35:37 +0100

Concluding Preserv poster (ppt slide) is trailed at the Minute Madness session at Open Repositories 07 (it sums up the project!)

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Preserv Format Profiling: PRONOM-ROAR

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:35:04 +0100

Preserv Format Profiling: PRONOM-ROAR, an illustrated guide. PRONOM-ROAR is a repository file format identification service based on interacting Web services. Find out how this service has begun to redefine the role and nature of preservation services for repositories.

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IRs: Towards Preservation Services

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:55:37 +0100

IRs: towards preservation services, a briefing for new projects in the JISC Repositories & Preservation Programme, asks whether, against some summary findings of the Preserv project, lightweight, interacting Web services may be one way forward for preservation services.

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Digital Preservation Coalition interviews Preserv

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:53:38 +0100

Progress of the Preserv project is examined in a revealing interview by Kieron Niven of the Digital Preservation Coalition as part of its Featured Project series.

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Survey of Repository Preservation Policies: first results

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:50:50 +0100

First results from a Preserv survey of repositories on preservation policies and activities are presented at a DPC Briefing Day and show a discrepancy between the number of repositories (effectively none) saying they have a formal policy for preservation, and those (over half) that perform format transformations that amount to preservation actions (see the slides).

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Pronom-ROAR unveiled

Wed, 03 May 2006 17:48:24 +0100

Preserv poster for the Joint US-UK Digital Preservation Workshop illustrates for the first time the use of PRONOM to provide format profiles for IRs covered in the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR).

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Preserv at PV 2005

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 17:46:34 +0100

Preserv presents at the major annual international preservation conference Ensuring Long-term Preservation and Adding Value to Scientific and Technical data (PV 2005) in Edinburgh (read the paper)

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First formal Preserv presentation at DCC workshop

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:14:37 +0100

Preserv was at the DCC Workshop on the Long-term Curation within Digital Repositories on 6 July 2005 in Cambridge to talk about 'Capturing preservation metadata from institutional repositories' (see the slides)

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