Pat,
The concept of archive as opposed to backup is a good
one. The starting point definitely rests in
pre-planning the usage. Back-up is simply a copy of a
previous period of time to be restored, commonly
occurring at some regular interval (i.e. daily,
monthly,etc.). A collections database is obviously
used in various ways to retrieve information, both
analytical or descriptive. The archive, and I have
encountered this here at my present work, can be a
loose definition that is different from person to
person, organization to organization. I have always
equated an archive as a "storage of old items" term,
that in my current work environment that does require
a digital database for keeping track of where things
are if they need to be retrieved.
Then there is publication to and access via the web.
I think that highly dependent on the museum's Mission
Statement. Personally, I appreciate going to a
website and having virtually everything available
short of holding an object in my hand.
I recently posted a thread about my own career as a
document manager trying to get back into the
historical sciences, and your brief web-page comment
is that fine line of what I have been struggling with.
The researchers will not need to know how the web
page was created. But for the person that does create
that web page, there has to be both this understanding
of the processes of the museum (collections management
information, statistical preferences, etc.), the
access process (database), the web page interface
itself, with a further understanding of the web user
and the types of information that they be looking for.
In applying for a job as an illustrator at one point,
I was given a test to draw a simple biface, which
given only an hour turned out pretty well. My
soon-to-be-be employer showed me examples of other
accomplished artists who attempted the same test.
Without basic understanding of lithic technology
processes, they missed a lot of key elements in their
understanding of this, which resulted in illustrations
of that lacked a lot of key details. Those
illustration wound up looking artsy, not technical.
I bought this experience up to illustrate that the
digital age has generated a "middle man" between
museum staff to researcher. That middle-man needs to
understand both the science and the technology/format
used to make it available. That is what I am hoping
to do.
I am currently at work, my comments are running out of
steam and beginning to wander as well, so I'll finish
up to read further comments as they are posted, both
additional and feedback as well. But for now, I
appreciate the new perceptions on the original post,
it keeps me thinking.
Cheers,
Brad
--- Patricia Reynolds
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Another web archiving question ... For a
> database-driven website, is
> conversion of database to xml or production and
> archiving of static web
> pages the way to go? Or does it depend on context?
> E.g. Does it depend on
> whether the database is interrorgated by the user,
> or not (this isn't a
> question about collections management databases, by
> the way).
>
> There is porential to use the historic data (about
> room booking, for
> example) for makerting purposes. But just because
> something CAN be done
> doesn't mean that it is imortant to do it.
>
> My feeling is that reserchers of the future (like
> users of today) will not
> be aware of how a web page was generated - it is the
> design and the content
> that will interest them.
>
> Another think that supporting this enquiry has
> taught me: people are
> confused between an archive and a backup, and think
> they serve the same
> purposes.
>
> With best wishes to all,
>
> Pat
>
> Pat Reynolds,
> Surrey Museums Development Officer
> ------Original Message------
> From: Mark Janzen
> To: MUSEUM-L
> ReplyTo: MUSEUM-L
> Sent: 3 Jan 2006 18:02
> Subject: Re: archival storage of CDs
>
> [Sent by: Museum discussion list
> <[log in to unmask]> ]
> Remko,
>
> Multiple backups, multiple storage locations, and
> even different storage
> media are all musts. The NIST publication you need
> is here:
>
>
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/CDandDVDCareandHandlingGuide.pdf
>
> Either the hard jewel cases or the archival
> polypropylene versions are
> good. The main reason I lean toward the
> poly-versions is that they are not
> as prone to cracking or shattering. Of course, if
> they are stored and
> handled well that would not be an issue. In any
> case, avoid the thin cases
> for long term storage, as they are too thin and
> flexible.
>
> One of the things I have not seen on any of the
> other posts responding to
> your question, and forgive me if I missed it, is a
> discussion of data
> permanence. Migration to newer media and
> technology/software obsolecence
> are serious concerns, but there is another issue
> that lurks in the dark
> places of our vaults. DVDs and CDs are not permanent
> storage media, and
> they should never be considered as such.
>
> Of course use and poor conditions can damage a
> CD/DVD-RAM or ROM, but the
> data on the disks can become unreadable all by
> itself even in good
> conditions. The dye-based technology that we all use
> is subject to
> degradation over time, and your archived master
> copies could become
> unuseable in as few as 1-5 years, whether or not you
> still have a computer
> that can run/read them. If you are going to archive
> data in any digital
> format, you need to have a policy in place for
> periodic checking and
> recopying of the data to fresh media to prevent such
> losses.
>
> As David noted, only a few media, such as microfilm,
> microfiche, and
> paper(punchcards), can be considered permanent in
> the long run. All other
> digital and electronic media should be considered
> temporary and treated as
> such. That is assuming you actually want to keep
> your information for the
> long term. DVD-ROMs are a much more stable option,
> but the difficulty and
> expense of producing such creatures in low
> number/uniqu
>
>
>
>
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