Tools

Identification

PARADIGM Online Workbook

Between 2005 and 2007, the Paradigm project of the Bodleian Library and John Rylands University Library explored the issues involved in the long-term preservation of born-digital private papers in the context of hybrid archives - those that are composed of traditional and born-digital formats. The project accessioned sample archives from contemporary UK politicians and used these to gain practical experience of combining archival and digital curation worflows, standards, tools and technologies. An Online Workbook was created during the project and a print edition has recently been produced.
http://www.paradigm.ac.uk/workbook
Suitable for:

Excavating Data: Retrieving the Newham Archive

The case of the Newham Archive is a salutary example of how forgoing efficient documentation during data creation endangers the existence of that very data. The Newham data has only been saved through the hard work and expertise of the AHDS Archaeology, a task that has been costly and difficult. These costs would have been avoided if good metadata practices had been adopted at the point of creation.
http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/case-studies/newham/index.htm
Suitable for:

RODA (Repositório de Objectos Digitais Autênticos)

The National Archive Institute of Portugal (IAN/TT) doesn't currently have the needed infrastructures to support the processes of ingestion and management of digital objects produced by the public administration (PA). The initiatives of the eGovernment establish the need to support its activity in information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of their public services. In this scenario it is clear that the number of digital objects produced by these institutions will grow, and that their legal value and authenticity should be assured.
http://portal.roda.dgarq.gov.pt/
Suitable for:

kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
Suitable for:

The Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability standards (CETIS)

CETIS represents UK Higher and Further Education on international educational standards initiatives including: The IMS Global Learning Consortium, developing specifications for learning technology interoperability including metadata, content management, enterprise systems, learner information and profiling, accessibility, question and tests.
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

Protégé Ontology Editor

Protégé is a free, open source ontology editor and knowledge-base framework. The Protégé platform supports two main ways of modelling ontologies via the Protégé-Frames and Protégé-OWL editors. Protégé ontologies can be exported into a variety of formats including RDF(S), OWL, and XML Schema.
http://protege.stanford.edu/
Suitable for:

Learning Object Metadata Editors

Tools that support the creation of high-quality learning object metadata are indispensable to the successful implementation of the IEEE LOM standard.
http://www.cancore.ca/editors.html
Suitable for:

CORDRA (Content Object Repository Discovery and Registration/Resolution Architecture)

This tool can be used to create handles or IDs to assign to files. Functionality:  ID generator. Level of Expertise:  High. Simple to execute, but knowledge of Data IDs and handles needed.
http://cordra.net/
Suitable for:

GovTalk (UK)

The purpose of this site is to enable the Public Sector, Industry and other interested participants to work together to develop and agree policies and standards for e-government. This is achieved through the UK GovTalk consultation processes. Functionality:  The site is divided broadly into two areas: Schemas and Standards This part of the site covers all aspects relating to the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF), the e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) and the Government Data Standards Catalogue (GDSC).
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/
Suitable for:

EPICUR - Enhancement of Persistent Identifier Services: Comprehensive Method for Unequivocal Resource Identification

Persistent Identifiers are essential conditions for an effective management of digital resources and reliable access to electronic documents. Currently several persistent identifiers services have been established, however there is a general demand concerning the active introduction of persistent identifiers, further development of technical components of persistent identifier services and the establishment of an organisational infrastructure regarding persistent identifiers.
http://www.persistent-identifier.de
Suitable for:

Go-Geo

Go-Geo! is an online resource discovery tool which allows for the identification and retrieval of records describing the content, quality, condition and other characteristics of geospatial data that exist with UK tertiary education and beyond. The portal supports geospatial searching by interactive map, grid co-ordinates and place name, as well as the more traditional topic or keyword forms of searching.
http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

UKOLN Interoperability Focus

Interoperability Focus is a national activity, jointly funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils and Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. Based within UKOLN, Interoperability Focus works closely with other staff on a range of issues including metadata, distributed systems and public library networking.
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/
Suitable for:

Data Description Tools

eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
Suitable for:

FISH Interoperability Toolkit

A suite of XML data formats based on the MIDAS data standard, plus associated tools and documentation to assist in the exchange of data relating to the historic environment (built, archaeological, marine, artefacts, and so on). Functionality:  Provides XML schemas (MIDAS XML) to act as a interchange format, a data validator tool to check correct content, terminology is used against UK national benchmarks, and protocols for the use of Web Services employing the MIDAS XML schemas. Level of Expertise: 
http://www.heritage-standards.org
Suitable for:

Learning Object Metadata Editors

Tools that support the creation of high-quality learning object metadata are indispensable to the successful implementation of the IEEE LOM standard.
http://www.cancore.ca/editors.html
Suitable for:

Representation Information Repository

This DCC tool records the representation information (e.g. file format structural information as well as semantic metadata) necessary to be able to interpret an archived digital object, and in turn assists users to populate relevant technical preservation metadata fields for digital objects being preserved.
http://dev.dcc.ac.uk/dccrrt/
Suitable for:

EdNA Online Metadata Toolset

This tool assists web page creators to embed standardised metadata into their pages. It will also prepare pages for harvesting and integrate different metadata schemas. Lists of the standards can be found on the EdNA website. Functionality:  Metadata creator and editor. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of metadata and some knowledge of Java applications.
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/pid/1505/
Suitable for:

XMP

XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) is a tool that assists the digital preservation workflow in that it allows you to attach metadata to digital objects. It is an open-source product and freely available to the community. XMP is extensible in that it can also accommodate existing metadata schemas. This tool is particularly pertinent for digital imaging. Functionality:  Metadata creation tool. Level of Expertise:  Fairly high.
http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/main.html
Suitable for:

Metadata Extraction Tool

This has been developed by the National Library of New Zealand and leads the way in being one of the first tools of its kind to extract preservation metadata from the headers of a range of file formats. The metadata standard used is the NLNZ preservation metadata schema, but it can be configured to support other business processes. Automatic extraction is a key development for the digital preservation community.
http://www.natlib.govt.nz/en/whatsnew/4initiatives.html#extraction
Suitable for:

EAST

The EAST language was designed to meet three objectives in order to enable: A complete description of any given data format, without any 'ephemeral' references to any short-life file management systems Access to the values of the data by means of generic tools which do not require writing of even a single line of specific code for the data to be read Formatting the data on their storage or exchange medium while guaranteeing a structure that matches their description Functionality:  A tool used to generate file descriptions for archiving data.
http://east.cnes.fr/
Suitable for:

SKOS Core

SKOS stands for Simple Knowledge Organisation System. SKOS Core is a model used to describe 'concept' schemas and the relationships between them. For example, glossaries, thesauri, controlled vocabularies. Functionality:  Provides a framework for expressing knowledge organisation systems in a machine-understandable way. Level of Expertise:  Good understanding of the concept of ontologies and descriptive schemas, such as RDF.
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-swbp-skos-core-guide-20051102/
Suitable for:

Go-Geo

Go-Geo! is an online resource discovery tool which allows for the identification and retrieval of records describing the content, quality, condition and other characteristics of geospatial data that exist with UK tertiary education and beyond. The portal supports geospatial searching by interactive map, grid co-ordinates and place name, as well as the more traditional topic or keyword forms of searching.
http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

TOM

This system set out to provide a data model for a wide variety of digital formats. This means that it can describe what the data is and can interpret the format to extract information from the data. TOM can also be used for non-standard data formats. Functionality:  File format registry. Level of Expertise:  High. This tool is aimed more at programmers than librarians or archivists. Knowledge of object orientated design an asset.
http://tom.library.upenn.edu/
Suitable for:

JHOVE

(JSTOR/Harvard Object Validation Environment): USA. Every object that is ingested into a digital archive needs to be identified and its file format needs to be verified. A data curator needs to be sure that the digital object entered into an archive is the file format that it purports to be. Functionality:  File format verification tool. Level of Expertise:  High. Technical knowledge of applications, APIs (Application Programme Interfaces) to implement the tool.
http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/index.html
Suitable for:

PRONOM

The online registry of technical information. PRONOM is a resource for anyone requiring impartial and definitive information about the file formats, software products and other technical components required to support long-term access to electronic records and other digital objects of cultural, historical or business value. Functionality:  File format specification database. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of metadata schemas in particular technical preservation metadata.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/
Suitable for:

SKOS Core Vocabulary Specification

Provides a reference-style overview of the SKOS Core Vocabulary, and describes policies for ownership, naming, persistence and change management. Functionality:  A practical application of the Resource Description Framework. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of the Resource Description Framework.
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-swbp-skos-core-spec-20051102/
Suitable for:

Management Software

eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
Suitable for:

Bamboo

Bamboo is designed for the creation and management of large databases of mixed text and multimedia, and has been developed by working closely with historians and anthropologists who have needed powerful, flexible and intuitive software.
http://www.bambootechnology.com
Suitable for:

kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
Suitable for:

Xena Software

This open-source preservation software developed by the National Archives of Australia is free and openly available. Xena (XML Electronic Normalising of Archives) converts digital records into two forms for preservation: a base64-encoded version (using only printable ASCII characters) and an XML representation.
http://xena.sourceforge.net/
Suitable for:

Records Management Capacity Assessment System

The International Records Management Trust has created a software tool to assist the preservation and management of records in the public sector. This tool can be applied across all public sector areas and disciplines and can identify strengths, weaknesses and risks in existing systems. Functionality:  Records management tool to assist long term preservation. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of records management.
http://www.irmt.org/
Suitable for:

TASI (Technical Advisory Services for Images)

The Technical Advisory Service for Images is a JISC funded service. It provides advice and guidance to the Further and Higher Education community on the issues of: Creating digital images (including raster, vector and animated formats) Delivering digital images to users Using digital images to support teaching, learning and research Managing both small and large scale digitisation projects.
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/resources/resources.html
Suitable for:

Go-Geo

Go-Geo! is an online resource discovery tool which allows for the identification and retrieval of records describing the content, quality, condition and other characteristics of geospatial data that exist with UK tertiary education and beyond. The portal supports geospatial searching by interactive map, grid co-ordinates and place name, as well as the more traditional topic or keyword forms of searching.
http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

Data Storage Tools

Bamboo

Bamboo is designed for the creation and management of large databases of mixed text and multimedia, and has been developed by working closely with historians and anthropologists who have needed powerful, flexible and intuitive software.
http://www.bambootechnology.com
Suitable for:

eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
Suitable for:

kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
Suitable for:

Storage Guide

Web site for archive owners and the public alike, which provides first point-of-call for information on audiovisual storage. The site provides information and management tools on digital technology for the storage of film, video and audio content and associated metadata.
http://prestospace-sam.ssl.co.uk/
Suitable for:

Preservation Guide (for Audiovisual Media)

If you have audiovisual media, it needs maintenance - or you will lose it. This guide shows how to: conserve old formats digitise for transfer to new formats create digital file formats use digital restoration use mass storage provide electronic and web access Functionality:  Wiki Level of Expertise:  Introductory, but also has information of use to experienced professionals
http://www.bbcarchive.org.uk
Suitable for:

UniTree

National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). UniTree is the mass storage system available to all NCSA users for permanent storage of data. Functionality:  Mass Storage Interface. Provides a Unix tree structure to data with transparent access to backing store. Access is via ftp for NCSA Users.
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCD/Hardware/UniTree/
Suitable for:

HPSS

HPSS provides a variety of user and file system interfaces ranging from the ubiquitous VFS, FTP, SAMBA and NFS to higher performance PFTP, client API, local file mover and third party SAN. HPSS is sold and serviced by IBM Global Services. Functionality:  Mass Storage Interface.
http://www.hpss-collaboration.org/hpss/index.jsp
Suitable for:

CASTOR

(CERN Advanced STORage Manager. This software is free for academics, but only runs on Linux. CASTOR is a system for interfacing to mass storage, such as a tape robot. Functionality:  Mass Storage Interface. CASTOR provides a C API and set of Unix commands to access data transparently, not knowing whether it is on local or remote storage. Level of Expertise:  High
http://castor.web.cern.ch/castor/
Suitable for:

OceanStore

A global persistent store that will support millions of users at any given time. Functionality:  Durable, consistent storage for back-up purposes. Level of Expertise:  Basic knowledge of storage systems.
http://oceanstore.cs.berkeley.edu/info/overview.html
Suitable for:

TASI (Technical Advisory Services for Images)

The Technical Advisory Service for Images is a JISC funded service. It provides advice and guidance to the Further and Higher Education community on the issues of: Creating digital images (including raster, vector and animated formats) Delivering digital images to users Using digital images to support teaching, learning and research Managing both small and large scale digitisation projects.
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/resources/resources.html
Suitable for:

Digital Repository and Library Models

Repository Interoperability Framework (RIFF) Submission Service Source Code

The RIFF Submission Service provides a service-oriented framework to support the packaging and routing of content and metadata from a source application to a target repository.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

Automated Obsolescence Notification System (AONS) II

AONS (Automated Obsolescence Notification System) notifies repository managers about formats within digital resources in their repositories and alerts them to potential problems relevant to obsolescence and long term usage.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

Collection Services Infrastructure (COSI) Framework

COSI is a web applications framework built to provide authentication (via either LDAP or the built-in service) and roles based access to modules of grouped functionality (or sub applications). More information about COSI can be found at the APSR web site. COSI is built with PHP (5.2.1) and PostgreSQL (8.2.3), and has been tested running under Apache 2.2.4 on Redhat Linux 9 and Mac OS X 10.4, but should also run on windows (and maybe even under Internet Information Server). PHP should be configured with pgsql, libxml, xsl, ldap, and open ssl.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

Field Helper

Field Helper is a desktop application that enables you to quickly view and categorise groups of related digital files and then submit the resulting package to a repository for long term preservation and access.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

FEZ

Fez is an open source project to produce and maintain a highly flexible web interface to FEDORA for any Library or Institution to configure and publish or archive documents of any type sustainably.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

Online Research Collections Australia (ORCA) Registry

The ORCA Registry software provides for a registry of collection level (and associated service, party and activity) metadata that is based on the ISO 2146 draft standard. More information about ORCA can be found at the APSR web site. The ORCA Registry software consists of a PostgreSQL database that is managed/utilised by a PHP module housed within an instance of the COSI framework.
http://www.apsr.edu.au/software.htm
Suitable for:

Bamboo

Bamboo is designed for the creation and management of large databases of mixed text and multimedia, and has been developed by working closely with historians and anthropologists who have needed powerful, flexible and intuitive software.
http://www.bambootechnology.com
Suitable for:

RODA (Repositório de Objectos Digitais Autênticos)

The National Archive Institute of Portugal (IAN/TT) doesn't currently have the needed infrastructures to support the processes of ingestion and management of digital objects produced by the public administration (PA). The initiatives of the eGovernment establish the need to support its activity in information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of their public services. In this scenario it is clear that the number of digital objects produced by these institutions will grow, and that their legal value and authenticity should be assured.
http://portal.roda.dgarq.gov.pt/
Suitable for:

kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
Suitable for:

Preserv Project - Preservation Eprints Services

Preserv (now Preserv 2, since it is in its second phase of funding) is a JISC project investigating and developing infrastructural digital preservation services for institutional repositories. Project partners are Southampton University, The National Archives, The British Library and Oxford University. Functionality:  An ingest service based on the OAIS reference model for institutional archives built using EPrints software.
http://preserv.eprints.org/
Suitable for:

KnowGenesis Online Library for Technical Communication

This freely available repository is developed with an aim to make accessible the wide range of information-related disciplines under Technical Communication. KnowGenesis is open to all Technical Communicator across the globe irrespective of their position, experience levels and geographical location. What's more, you are free to add your presentations, files, hyperlinks, tips even templates, tutorials and workflows. In short, anything you think that can help you and your colleagues.
http://www.knowgenesis.org/tc
Suitable for:

KnowGenesis International Journal for Technical Communication

KnowGenesis is a freely available, international, scholarly journal, dedicated to making accessible the results of research across a wide range of information-related disciplines under Technical Communication.
http://www.knowgenesis.org/journal
Suitable for:

DSpace

This software is open-source and free for anyone to use. DSpace is an institutional repository system that focuses on long-term preservation. Functionality:  Active preservation strategy. Level of Expertise:  Useful for anyone interested in digital preservation implementations, particularly in the HE/FE research domain.
http://www.dspace.org/
Suitable for:

KB e-depot

This project has created a preservation sub-system; a storage repository that ensures access to the digital object over time.The e-depot is only one part of the preservation workflow, and the other parts have also been designed. Functionality:  Preservation resource tool. Level of Expertise:  Useful for anyone interested in digital preservation implementations to see a working model.
http://www.kb.nl/dnp/e-depot/e-depot-en.html
Suitable for:

Fedora

This digital repository service is open source and free to implement. The system architecture supports the storage of digital objects, version control, import and export of objects in XML as well as search and retrieval.
http://www.fedora.info/
Suitable for:

EPrints

EPrints is a tool to manage the digital research output of scholarly institutions. It is free and open source and because it is OAI (Open Archives Initiative) compliant, other EPrints archives can also be searched.
http://www.eprints.org/
Suitable for:

GDFR

Academic institutions are beginning to create institutional digital repositories. This is an on-going project set up by a collaboration of international digital library and archival communities to develop a sustainable, global registry of digital representation formats, which are represented in a human readable form. The GDFR would interoperate with the TOM tool Functionality:  File format registry. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of digital repositories.
http://hul.harvard.edu/gdfr/
Suitable for:

SRB

Storage Resource Broker, San Diego Supercomputer Centre. Free to academic users. Functionality:  Mass Storage Interface with metafile catalogue. The SDSC Storage Resource Broker is client-server middleware that provides a uniform interface for connecting to heterogeneous data resources over a network and accessing replicated data sets. SRB, in conjunction with the Metadata Catalog (MCAT), provides a way to access data sets and resources based on their attributes and/or logical names rather than their names or physical locations.
http://www.sdsc.edu/srb/
Suitable for:

Tei Publisher

This digital repository toolkit will enable xml-based digital objects to be searched and retrieved according to any XML DTD. The tool is aimed at assisting repository administrators who have limited technical knowledge. Functionality:  XML-based digital repository for management of digital collections. Level of Expertise:  Basic knowledge of storage systems.
http://teipublisher.sourceforge.net/docs/index.php
Suitable for:

VIRLIB - Electronic Document Store (Universities of Antwerp)

The VIRLIB project's focus is on the development of a real delivery service of electronic documents added to Impala, i.e. the Belgian system of managing and transmitting interlibrary requests for loan. In other words, the system VIRLIB II will enable the interlibrary loan department of any scientific library affiliated to the Impala network to deliver directly to the users workpost, in electronic format, any article asked for by the user in question.
http://www.kbr.be/virlib2/
Suitable for:

DSpace@Cambridge

Cambridge University Library, in association with the University Computing Service, has formulated a major project to provide the University with an institutional digital repository, "DSpace@Cambridge". This repository will provide a home for the increasing amount of material that is being digitised from the University Library's own printed and manuscript collections. It also has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve digital materials created in any part of the University.
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/dspace/
Suitable for:

CYCLADES

CYCLADES is developing an open collaborative virtual archive service environment supporting both single scholars as well as scholarly communities in carrying out their work. In particular, it will provide functionality to access large, heterogeneous, multidisciplinary archives distributed over the Web and to support remote collaboration among the members of communities of interest. CYCLADES will run on the data environment composed by the archives that adhere to the Open Archives Initiatives harvesting protocol specifications.
http://www.ercim.org/cyclades/
Suitable for:

Documentation and Standards

eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
Suitable for:

RODA (Repositório de Objectos Digitais Autênticos)

The National Archive Institute of Portugal (IAN/TT) doesn't currently have the needed infrastructures to support the processes of ingestion and management of digital objects produced by the public administration (PA). The initiatives of the eGovernment establish the need to support its activity in information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of their public services. In this scenario it is clear that the number of digital objects produced by these institutions will grow, and that their legal value and authenticity should be assured.
http://portal.roda.dgarq.gov.pt/
Suitable for:

CRiB (Conversion and Recommendation of Digital Object Formats)

The CRiB is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) designed to assist cultural heritage institutions in the implementation of migration-based preservation interventions. The CRiB system works by assessing the quality of distinct conversion applications or services to produce recommendations of optimal migration strategies. The recommendations produced by the system take into account the specific preservation requirements of each client institution.
http://crib.dsi.uminho.pt/
Suitable for:

kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
Suitable for:

CDP Digital Audio Working Group: Digital Audio Best Practices Version 2.0

The transfer of original recordings to digital formats is a process that helps protect the original analog recordings from unnecessary handling, can serve as a preservation process, and can provide access that might otherwise be unavailable. These digital duplicates may be copied without noticeable signal loss and safely accessed without concerns about the destruction of original material. This transfer process, when handled properly, can prove to be both easy and cost effective for most historic collections.
http://www.cdpheritage.org/digital/audio/documents/CDPDABP_1-2.pdf
Suitable for:

FISH Interoperability Toolkit

A suite of XML data formats based on the MIDAS data standard, plus associated tools and documentation to assist in the exchange of data relating to the historic environment (built, archaeological, marine, artefacts, and so on). Functionality:  Provides XML schemas (MIDAS XML) to act as a interchange format, a data validator tool to check correct content, terminology is used against UK national benchmarks, and protocols for the use of Web Services employing the MIDAS XML schemas. Level of Expertise: 
http://www.heritage-standards.org
Suitable for:

The Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability standards (CETIS)

CETIS represents UK Higher and Further Education on international educational standards initiatives including: The IMS Global Learning Consortium, developing specifications for learning technology interoperability including metadata, content management, enterprise systems, learner information and profiling, accessibility, question and tests.
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

KnowGenesis International Journal for Technical Communication

KnowGenesis is a freely available, international, scholarly journal, dedicated to making accessible the results of research across a wide range of information-related disciplines under Technical Communication.
http://www.knowgenesis.org/journal
Suitable for:

Learning Object Metadata Editors

Tools that support the creation of high-quality learning object metadata are indispensable to the successful implementation of the IEEE LOM standard.
http://www.cancore.ca/editors.html
Suitable for:

ICA (International Council on Archives)

The International Council on Archives (ICA) is dedicated to the advancement of archives worldwide. In pursuing the advancement of archives, ICA works for the protection and enhancement of the memory of the world. ICA is the professional organisation for the world archival community, dedicated to promoting the preservation, development, and use of the world's archival heritage. It brings together national archive administrations, professional associations of archivists, regional and local archives and archives of other organisations as well as individual archivists.
http://www.ica.org
Suitable for:

Digitale Duurzaamheid (Testbed Digitale Bewaring - Digital Preservation Testbed)

Functionality:  Preservation Resource Tool Level of Expertise:  Useful for anyone interested in digital preservation implementations
http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl
Suitable for:

COUPERIN - Consortium Universitaire de Périodiques Numériques

The Consortium Universitaire des Périodiques Numériques (COUPERIN), the main purchasing consortium for university libraries, is concerned about the archiving of and future access to the journals to which it subscribes. COUPERIN is reluctant to rely solely on publishers for these long-term arrangements. It has begun discussing with the BnF arrangements under which BnF would archive electronic journals that fall outside of legal deposit.
http://buweb.univ-angers.fr/COUPERIN.html
Suitable for:

Go-Geo

Go-Geo! is an online resource discovery tool which allows for the identification and retrieval of records describing the content, quality, condition and other characteristics of geospatial data that exist with UK tertiary education and beyond. The portal supports geospatial searching by interactive map, grid co-ordinates and place name, as well as the more traditional topic or keyword forms of searching.
http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/
Suitable for:

Strategy Tools and Guidelines

Computer Forensics And Digital Preservation

Digital preservation (DP) is very wide in scope. It covers almost all the segments of public dealings. An interesting application of DP arises in cases of forensics including cyber forensics. Forensic digital data bank management is a complex DP process. The data bank contains information on intimate and non-intimate objects. Along with the management issues legal requirements are also involved. The civil liberty issues like privacy rights, ethical issues and human rights occasionally require legal authority and permissions.
http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/
Suitable for:

Data Audit Framework

The Data Audit Framework (DAF) provides organisations with the means to identify, locate, describe and assess how they are managing their research data assets. DAF combines a set of methods with an online tool to enable data auditors to gather this information. The Framework helps to ensure that research data produced in UK Higher Education Institutions is preserved and remains accessible in the long term. Functionality:  This tool facilitates data audits. Auditors can recording details of data collections and how they are being managed.
http://www.data-audit.eu
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eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
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RODA (Repositório de Objectos Digitais Autênticos)

The National Archive Institute of Portugal (IAN/TT) doesn't currently have the needed infrastructures to support the processes of ingestion and management of digital objects produced by the public administration (PA). The initiatives of the eGovernment establish the need to support its activity in information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of their public services. In this scenario it is clear that the number of digital objects produced by these institutions will grow, and that their legal value and authenticity should be assured.
http://portal.roda.dgarq.gov.pt/
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CDP Digital Audio Working Group: Digital Audio Best Practices Version 2.0

The transfer of original recordings to digital formats is a process that helps protect the original analog recordings from unnecessary handling, can serve as a preservation process, and can provide access that might otherwise be unavailable. These digital duplicates may be copied without noticeable signal loss and safely accessed without concerns about the destruction of original material. This transfer process, when handled properly, can prove to be both easy and cost effective for most historic collections.
http://www.cdpheritage.org/digital/audio/documents/CDPDABP_1-2.pdf
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INFORM (INvestigation of FOrmats based on Risk Management)

This article explains the OCLC-based research project which has created a methodology to determine how specific threats to digital files can have an impact on preservation decisions. This risk-assessment approach acts as useful guidance to determine what to consider when embarking on a preservation strategy. Functionality:  Guidance on what to consider when establishing a digital archive. Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of digital preservation practices.
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november04/stanescu/11stanescu.html
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erpaGuidance

This set of guidance papers include advice on digital preservation issues such as Costing, Risk Management and Policy as well as more hands-on preservation issues such as Selection and Ingest.
http://www.erpanet.org/guidance/
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Digitale Duurzaamheid (Testbed Digitale Bewaring - Digital Preservation Testbed)

Functionality:  Preservation Resource Tool Level of Expertise:  Useful for anyone interested in digital preservation implementations
http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl
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Lund University Library - Preservation and Access

The project Medieval Manuscripts at Lund University Library - Preservation and Access intends to digitize, to catalogue and to make the integrated database (pictures and catalogue entries) accessible on-line.
http://www.lub.lu.se
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CAMiLEON (Creative Archiving at Michigan and Leeds: Emulating the Old on the New)

The CAMiLEON Project is developing and evaluating a range of technical strategies for the long term preservation of digital materials. User evaluation studies and a preservation cost analysis are providing answers as to when and where these strategies will be used. The project is a joint undertaking between the Universities of Michigan (USA) and Leeds (UK) and is funded by JISC and NSF. CAMiLEON stands for Creative Archiving at Michigan and Leeds: Emulating the Old on the New.
http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/
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Web Archiving Tools

Relic Imaging Ltd.

Relic Imaging offers high-end digital archival photography services to museums, galleries and private collectors. Functionality:  Works with curators and picture libraries in producing digital catalogues of 3D objects and flat artwork. Also produces interactive object rotations.
http://www.relicimaging.com
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WebCite

WebCite® is a project initiated by the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at the University of Toronto intended to digitally archive web material (web pages, PDF documents, and so on) which are cited in scholarly articles. The idea of WebCite is that authors of scholarly papers (as well as editors and publishers of scholarly work) are increasingly citing digital material which is in the public domain on the web, yet which is at risk to disappear, i.e.
http://www.webcitation.org
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eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
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Web Curator Tool

The Web Curator Tool (WCT) is a tool for managing the selective web harvesting process. It is designed for use in libraries and other collecting organisations, and supports collection by non-technical users while still allowing complete control of the web harvesting process. The WCT Project is a collaborative effort by the National Library of New Zealand and the British Library, initiated by the International Internet Preservation Consortium.
http://webcurator.sf.net/
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Bamboo

Bamboo is designed for the creation and management of large databases of mixed text and multimedia, and has been developed by working closely with historians and anthropologists who have needed powerful, flexible and intuitive software.
http://www.bambootechnology.com
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KnowGenesis Online Library for Technical Communication

This freely available repository is developed with an aim to make accessible the wide range of information-related disciplines under Technical Communication. KnowGenesis is open to all Technical Communicator across the globe irrespective of their position, experience levels and geographical location. What's more, you are free to add your presentations, files, hyperlinks, tips even templates, tutorials and workflows. In short, anything you think that can help you and your colleagues.
http://www.knowgenesis.org/tc
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LOCKSS

Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe. This service is a freely available preservation service that works on the principle that by persistently caching multiple copies of a web serials over multiple sites, the chances of that particular object being preserved are greatly increased. It is used by libraries to preserve their content over the long-term.
http://lockss.stanford.edu/
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NWA Toolset

This is a freely available tool that allows the searching of archived web pages. The tool would be suitable for anyone who owns or manages a web archive where a large number of digital files and objects are stored. Functionality:  Search engine developed to search web archives. Level of Expertise:  Some level of technical expertise is needed to implement this tool - users should have knowledge of installing search engines.
http://nwa.nb.no/index.php?doc=download
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PANDAS

This software was developed by the National Library of Australia to create their Pandora web archive; it consists of a web harvester to download files, and a robust content management system to manage and retrieve the files and their associated metadata. It is available under license only. Functionality:  Web harvester and archive management system Level of Expertise:  Knowledge of web archives.
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/manual/pandas/
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Relevant Projects

eDAVID - Expertisecentrum DAVID

Expertisecentrum DAVID is a centre of research and knowledge on digital archiving.
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/eng/index.php
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kopal - Co-operative Development of a Long-Term Digital Information Archive

The German kopal project is dedicated to finding a solution to the problem of long-term preservation in the form of a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive for digital data. Results of the project are the specification of the Universal Object Format and the open-source software koLibRI. Both are available on the homepage of the project.
http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/index.php.en
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RODA (Repositório de Objectos Digitais Autênticos)

The National Archive Institute of Portugal (IAN/TT) doesn't currently have the needed infrastructures to support the processes of ingestion and management of digital objects produced by the public administration (PA). The initiatives of the eGovernment establish the need to support its activity in information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of their public services. In this scenario it is clear that the number of digital objects produced by these institutions will grow, and that their legal value and authenticity should be assured.
http://portal.roda.dgarq.gov.pt/
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Dutch Digital Preservation Testbed

This project was initiated by the Dutch National Archives. Over the years they have instigated some interesting case studies which they have carefully documented. Do pay special reference to their 'Knowledge Bank' which lists some valuable tools for the preservation of different file formats. Functionality:  Preservation resource tool. Level of Expertise:  Useful for anyone interested in digital preservation implementations.
http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/home.cfm
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UVC for Images

The National Library of the Netherlands, Koninklijke Bibliotheek [KB], have enhanced their existing preservation services by working with IBM in developing the Universal Virtual Computer. The UVC works by archiving the programme along with a digital file in order that the file can be decoded. PDF files have been used as a testbed, and the project has moved on to investigate JPEG image files.
http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_onderzoek/uvc_voor_images-en.html
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IMAPpreserve

Independent Media Arts Preservation, Inc. (IMAP) is a non-profit service, education, and advocacy organization committed to the preservation of non-commercial electronic media. IMAP has grown from a New York-based consortium of arts organizations and individuals to a national resource for preservation training, information, and advocacy. IMAP's core constituents include institutions, organizations, and individuals whose diverse media collections are underserved by existing preservation efforts.
http://www.imappreserve.org
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Grainger Engineering Library Information Center - Digital Library Research Projects

A collection of digital library projects under existence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These include search tools and resources for digital library development.
http://dli.grainger.uiuc.edu/
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Maastricht McLuhan Institute

The Maastricht McLuhan Institute (MMI), European Centre for Digital Culture, Knowledge Organisation and Learning Technology, was officially opened by Dr Eric McLuhan in November, 1998 and began its formal activities in January, 1999 at the Grote Gracht 82 in Maastricht. MMI is an initiative of the Universiteit Maastricht, the Hogeschool Maastricht, the Hogeschool Limburg, the Limburgs Universitair Centrum (Diepenbeek), the LIOF Industriebank N.V. and the Province of Limburg. The mission of the Research Unit on Digital Culture is twofold.
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl
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espida FAQ Page

An FAQ page about espida and digital preservation. Functionality:  Information about digital preservation of institutional information assets.
http://www.gla.ac.uk/espida/faq.shtml
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The DCC is funded by

Joint Information Systems Committee