title: Phantoms of the Digital Opera: The need for long term preservation of born-digital actorsand multimedia objects using methods that permit ongoing new creations
creators: Dena Strong
abstract: While  the  rapid  improvement  in  computing  power  and digital  tools  have  offered  a  vast  new  realm  of  creativity  to more  independent  creators  than  ever  before,  that  same rapidly  changing  pace  also  offers  a  unique  threat  to  those digital  creators:  What  can  you  do  when  the  length  of  time you need to finish your project is longer thanthe length of time your computer’s OS or software is supported? How can a small creative or research group best ensure that their work  can  still  be  actively  worked  with  in  five years –or twenty-five years? In     this    paper, I’ve assessed     digital     preservation recommendations  over  time,  discussing  the  gap  between the recommendations for preserving a completed workand digital creators’ ongoing needs to  be  able  to  create  further work.I  have  three  case  studies  created  from  longitudinal interviews with digital creators to determine how their own creative  ecosystemshaveheld  up  to  the  pressure  of  time, where  their  systems  have  begun  to  degrade,  and  how  they continue their digital work across yearsor decades.Currently, either maintaining an aging system or recreating entire  worlds with  different,  newer  systemsare  the  best available  options  for  the  digital  creators  I  interviewed, though neither is optimal. Hardware and software vendors’ intentional  dropping  of  backwards  compatibility  prohibits accurate forward migration for many digital media creators. The  Pericles  model  seems  promising,  but  Pericles  itself  is not open to individuals. Future improvements in emulation,including   cloud-based   virtualization,may   offer   a   path forwardif these services can improve their user friendliness and  resolve the  version  compatibilityissues  that  create obstacles today.
keywords: kyoto