Long-Term Digital Preservation: A Preliminary Study on Software and Format Obsolescence
Long-term digital preservation aims to ensure the accessibility, authenticity, intelligibility, and integrity of digital objects for long periods that may be unlimited. It is a big challenge for institutions seeking to preserve their sensitive, patrimonial or scientific information, including digital library community, data centers and archives. The ongoing changes and evolution of computer platforms, including software and hardware, represent potential challenges for digital preservation. In this context, we present an initial and ongoing investigation in the field of digital preservation, with a focus on the challenge of software and format obsolescence. The paper presents a decomposition of the digital information in five layers and identifies its main aspects concerned with preservation. The challenge of software and format obsolescence is then analyzed by focusing on the technologies used for document and image preservation. Fundamental preservation strategies are reviewed and discussed.