Hi Rob, Thanks for doing this -- I probably should have been more on the ball about sending it out. For those interested, there is useful information about formats already available at http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/descriptions.shtml and this list is supposed to feed into the global registry.
Tim Au Yeung -----Original Message----- From: Rob Lancefield [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 12:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Fwd: Harvard announces Global Digital Format Registry... Hi all, From the diglib list, and perhaps of interest to many mcn folk: > ------- begin forwarded text ------- > >Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:06:10 -0500 >To: [email protected] >From: Stephen Abrams <[email protected]> >Subject: Harvard announces Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) project > >The Harvard University Library (HUL) is pleased to announce that it >has received a grant of $600,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon >Foundation for the development of a registry of authoritative >information about digital formats. Detailed information about the >format of digital resources is fundamental to their preservation. >The two-year project will result in a new Global Digital Format >Registry (GDFR), which will become a key international >infrastructure component for the digital preservation programs of >libraries, archives and other institutions with the responsibility >for keeping digital resources viable over time. > >Development of the Registry will be informed by the considerable >expertise in digital preservation the Harvard libraries have >acquired through Harvard's Library Digital Initiative (LDI). An >earlier Harvard contribution to the international digital >preservation community is JHOVE <http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/>, a >tool developed in cooperation with JSTOR that is widely used to >analyze and validate the format of digital objects. > >The wide diversity and rapid pace of adoption and abandonment of >digital formats present an ongoing problem for long-term >preservation efforts. As noted in the October 2002 planning report >of the Library of Congress ("Preserving Our Digital Heritage: Plan >for the National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation >Program"), "Longevity of digital data and the ability to read those >data in the future depend upon standards for encoding and >describing, but standards change over time." > >According to Dale Flecker, associate director of the Harvard >University Library, "All digital preservation programs must document >the format of the objects they are preserving. Without precise >knowledge of format, a digital object is merely a collection of >undifferentiated bits. Creating a shared registry of such >documentation will save an enormous amount of duplicative effort in >acquiring and recording such documentation. It also allows the >community to share expertise in formats, so that each institution >does not require deep local expertise in every format of data it is >preserving." > >GDFR will be established as a distributed service in which >participating research libraries, archives, and other organizations >with preservation responsibilities can contribute, as well as use, >format-typing information. According to Stephen Abrams, digital >library program manager in HUL's Office for Information Systems, >"GDFR will be a sustainable service available to any preservation >institution that chooses to participate. From the outset, we've >envisioned the registry as a distributed network of individual >nodes. Each node will have a full copy of all the format-typing >data in the GDFR. Carefully vetted information and updates will be >distributed among the nodes following appropriate technical review. >GDFR will also provide a separate track for distributing non-vetted >information, so that problems and issues identified in the course of >daily work can be quickly shared by participants." > >Major American research libraries are supporting Harvard's efforts >to develop the GDFR. MacKenzie Smith, associate director of >technology for the MIT Libraries, stated, "The establishment of a >digital format registry will be a major contribution to our ability >to keep digital content viable into the future, and I am grateful >that Harvard is willing to take the initiative to build it and >coordinate our efforts to use it." In the words of John Ockerbloom, >digital library planner and architect for the University of >Pennsylvania Library, "Such a system will aid in digital development >and preservation not only at my library, but also at many other >institutions worldwide. Having open, globally recognized naming, >definitions, and documentation of data formats will greatly improve >the abilities of libraries and content-management software to use, >adapt and share a wide variety of digital content." > >For current information and updates on GDFR, including information >about job opportunities, visit the project web site at ><http://hul.harvard.edu/gdfr/>. > > >--- >Stephen L. Abrams >Digital Library Program Manager >Harvard University Library, Office for Information Systems >1280 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 404 >Cambridge, MA 02138 >T +1 (617) 495-3724 >F +1 (617) 495-0491 >E [email protected] >W http://hul.harvard.edu/~stephen/ > -------- end forwarded text -------- -- _________________________________________________________________ Rob Lancefield [email protected] Manager of Museum Information Services / Registrar of Collections Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University www.wesleyan.edu/dac 301 High Street, Middletown CT 06459 USA tel. 860.685.2965 Board of Directors, Museum Computer Network www.mcn.edu --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
