Digitization: a preservation strategy?

Digitization: a preservation strategy?

What is the role of digitization in a preservation strategy?  In his 2010 article, "Preservation in the Age of Google: Digitization, Digital Preservation, and Dilemmas," Paul Conway points out "the very important distinction between the terms 'digital preservation' and 'digitization for preservation'" (Introduction, para 4).  This distinction is critical because "digitization is no longer an emerging tool; it is the established and often preferred method for reformatting" analog materials (Gracy & Kahn, 2011, p. 25).  How can a preservation strategy accommodate both the analog object and the subsequent digital surrogate effectively?  The complex issues of preservation in general are tested by our new technological age.

Digitizing Analog records

Analog records (of any format) deteriorate naturally (and even faster under improper conditions).  Digitizing these deteriorating items seems like a logical step to preserving them.

What are we preserving when we digitize a 45 RPM vinyl record, or a daguerreotype?  We are preserving the content, which is arguably the most important component of a record or file.  But we cannot use digitization to truly preserve an analog format.  A preservation strategy of an archive should distinguish between the preservation of the content and the format of the collection holdings.

Preserving the experience of an analog format

Many electronic products allow users to sustain some of the idiosyncratic sensory experience of obsolete analog formats.  In PowerPoint, for example, one of the "slide transitions" you can choose from is "slide projector."  A PowerPoint presenter can emulate the sound of an obsolete technology while showing their electronic presentation. The nostalgic sound of the slide projector is part of the experience of this analog format.

 




When organizations create digital collections of analog books, they can use software that allows the viewer to turn the "pages" of the digitized book, trying to preserve part of the sensory experience of the printed material. This simulation of a physical object can seem almost absurd, but it also seems a necessary  emotional component of digital "preservation."

In PhotoShop (and other photo editing software), filters and other techniques can turn new digital photographs into old-fashioned analog sepia-tone images, or Polaroid Instamatic replicas.  Clearly, a human desire (nostalgia?) for analog formats prompts us to want to "preserve" the experience of that format as well as the content.

A beer by the Churchkey Can Co. from Seattle Washington. (Photo taken with Instagram). April 29, 2012. By teamboost [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Digitizing analog records for preservation

There are a number of excellent reasons to use digitization as part of a preservation strategy for analog records.  When an analog item becomes inaccessible in its original format, for example, a digital record of that item ensures that it is not lost forever.

A daguerreotype of Shimazu Nariakira, taken by Ichiki Shiro (1828 - 1903), September 1857, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fragile media types also profit from preservation by digitization.  Daguerreotypes illustrate this since conservation and preservation attempts are almost impossible; just touching the surface of the image with a finger can remove or damage the medium (Ritzenthaler, p. 242).

Many sound recordings are considered fragile, or endangered, media as well.  The twentieth century saw a whirlwind of format types and sound recording and playback devices; obsolescence was almost a criteria of the evolution of recorded sound as one "improved" media replaced the previous one time after time.  The general public may consider that the "challenge of preserving sound recording collections is narrow and easily framed—simply a matter of copying old recordings to a new medium" (Bamberger, Brylawski, & National Recording Preservation Board, 2010, p. 9).  But the process is more complex than that, especially since this data migration often resulted in a subtle loss of quality each time a file was copied (Bamberger, et al., p. 66; Spindler, para. 14).

Patrick Feaster

In a recent story about Indiana University sound media historian Patrick Feaster, a remarkable revitalization of a lost gramophone recording illustrates the power of digitization for preservation.  Feaster discovered a photograph of the lost gramophone recording.  He was able to recreate the sound recording from that photograph by digitizing the print at extremely high resolution and translating it into sound.

In the art world, digitized copies of lost artworks are another example of the value of digitization for preservation.  While the format of the paintings may be lost, the content (and the single proof of the existence of the works at one time) is preserved. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, for example, maintains a digital "collection" of artworks that have been lost or destroyed, which is accessible on Flickr.

Venus at the Forge of Vulcan

Jan Brueghel and Hendrik van Balen, 
lost or destroyed 1945

Rotary phone at the Brown Palace in Denver, 2011

Digitization plays an important role in preservation of fragile material, but it is not preservation in the truest sense.  A digital surrogate of an analog file can never be more than an illusion of that original format.  In the same way that a digital image of a rotary phone can never recreate the sensory experience of using a rotary phone, a digital preservation of an analog format can never fully satisfy the requirements of full preservation.



I suspect that "born digital" generations will have different relationships with the media that shapes their memories and sensory experiences than previous generations have.   Archivists of "born digital" generations may find it easier to discard the obsolete formats and decaying objects of the past.

Digital Records of Analog Formats

Once an analog object has been "preserved" as a digital file, the principles of digital preservation apply.  The digital file of the analog object becomes an object in its own right.  In addition to preserving the analog object, the archivist must preserve its digital surrogate.  This complicates the responsibilities of the archive or collection, since, as Ritzenthaler points out, preserving digital image files requires "active management" in contrast to preserving prints and negatives, for example, which "are best preserved by leaving them untouched in a dark, cold place" (p. 400).

This active management is crucial in the digital age, since the reported average lifespan of digital recording technologies is at most fifteen years (Spindler, 2007, para. 1).  Rigorous life-cycle management of electronic resources (Ritzenthaler, et al., p. 401) is a time-consuming and costly endeavor for archives and museums. 

Preserving digital items (whether they are "born digital" or files created through "preserving" an analog format) requires proper storage and system maintenance for electronic resources. Data encryption can add another level of complexity for an archivist (Hunter, 2003, p. 246). 

Economic factors also influence the preservation of digital material.  "Deciding which digital materials to preserve over time means discriminating among many competing collections that demand limited resources" (Blue Ribbon Task Force , p. 19).  The sheer volume of electronic files that could be preserved and archived is staggering, especially if we consider perpetually storing all forms of social media!

Expections of access to digital materials

The public has come to expect easy access to electronic resources; analog files digitized as a form of preservation must preserve copyright and other restrictions to access imposed on their analog forms.  Migrating analog material to a digital format can end up in the electronic age's equivalent to the "dark, cold space" described by Ritzenthaler--a locked down, inaccessible server.  The monetary commitment to creating and maintaining such a space can be compromised if access to those digital files is prohibited.  Indeed, the concepts of access to and preservation of electronic resources go hand-in-hand.  "In the case of digital information, people care about the possibility of future access and use, and preservation creates that potential. To have access, they must also have preservation" (Blue Ribbon Task Force, p. 24).

Conclusions

I feel that Paul Conway has clearly articulated one of the most interesting aspects of "digital preservation" in his 2010 article "Preservation in the Age of Google: Digitization, Digital Preservation, and Dilemmas."  I agree with his distinction between "digital preservation" and "digitization for preservation." 

If digitization for preservation is defined solely as a set of technical specifications for full information capture, then the cultural heritage community neither requires nor can afford to employ preservation-quality digital conversion across the board. It is far more useful, perhaps, to define digitization for preservation as activities that result in the creation of digital products worthy of long-term preservation. These activities include the decisions to select materials for digitization, create digital representations with full and accurate descriptions, and then compile images and text into a coherent product (Conway, 2010, para. 4).

I also think that the emotional, experiential connection to past media formats places additional demands on preservation as a concept.  Preserving the content of analog material in a digital format does not always satisfy the true definition of preservation.  Sometimes the format (and the accompanying sensory experience) is just as important as the content itself.


 

References

Bamberger, R., Brylawski, S., & National Recording Preservation Board (U.S.). (2010). The state of recorded sound preservation in the United States: A national legacy at risk in the digital age. Washington, D.C: Council on Library and Information Resources.

Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. (2010). Sustainable economics for a digital planet: Ensuring long-term access to digital information. La Jolla, Calif: Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. 

Conway, P. (2010). Preservation in the Age of Google: Digitization, Digital Preservation, and Dilemmas. Library Quarterly 80, 1, 65. doi:10.1086/648463

Gracy, K. & Kahn, M. B. (2011). Preservation in the Digital Age: A Review of Preservation Literature, 2009–10. LRTS, 56(1), 25-43.

Hunter, G. S. (2003). Developing and maintaining practical archives: A how-to-do-it manual (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Ritzenthaler, M. L., Vogt-O'Connor, D., & Ritzenthaler, L. (2006). Photographs: Archival care and management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists.

Spindler, R. P. (2007). Reformatting. Northeast Document Conservation Center. Retrieved from http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/6Reformatting/05DigitalPreservation.php