Keynote address to the 2013 Czech Digital Preservation Society conference, Czech National Archives, Prague, October 1, 2013. Discusses two conceptions of trust: one that is technical, one that is about relationship-building

1. Dr. Natalie Harrower
Manager, Education and Outreach
Digital Repository of Ireland
Royal Irish Academy
Trust in Digital Preservation: Standards and Relationships
CNZ 2013 | 1 October 2013 | National Archives of the Czech Republic

2. Who am I?
DRI Presentation
• Manager of Education and Outreach
• Training programs
• Partnership development
• International networks & e-infrastructures

3. What is the Digital Repository of Ireland?
DRI Presentation
DRI is an interactive, national trusted digital
repository for contemporary and historical,
social and cultural data held by Irish
institutions

4. Vision
DRI Presentation
• To link and preserve the rich data held by
Irish institutions, providing a central internet
access point and multimedia tools.
• To provide an educational resource used
by the public, students and scholars,
• To provide preservation and access
services for our stakeholders and partners.
• To act as a focal point for the development
of national guidelines and policy for
digital preservation and access.

5. DRI Presentation
• Irish government funded (HEA)
• Royal Irish Academy (lead), National University of
Ireland Maynooth, National University of Ireland
Galway, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin Institute of
Technology, National College of Art and Design
• Partners: academic, cultural, social, government
• Sep 2011 – Sep 2015. Initial grant €5.2M
• Funding currently extended out to 2019
Funding/Consortium

6. DRI Presentation
Preservation
Access (use)
Sharing, linking, user tools (reuse)
 A trusted digital repository, and a focal point for
building a digital community for cultural heritage in
Ireland
Services

7. DRI Presentation
“A trusted digital
repository is one whose
mission is to provide
reliable, long-term access
to managed digital
resources to its
designated community,
now and in the future”
What is Trust? (TRAC)

8. DRI Presentation
• “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone
or something: relations have to be built on trust”
• “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength,
or truth of someone or something”
• “one in which confidence is placed”
What is Trust? (common usage)

9. DRI Presentation
• “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone
or something: relations have to be built on trust”
• “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength,
or truth of someone or something”
• “one in which confidence is placed”
What is Trust? (common usage)

10. DRI Presentation
• Planning, process, auditing
• Relationships, People
What is Trust?

11. DRI Presentation
1. About the digital archive/repository itself
2. About the relationships that surround the
practice of digital preservation
Trust in Digital Preservation: Two perspectives

12. DRI Presentation
1. About the digital archive/repository itself
2. About the relationships that surround the
practice of digital preservation
Trust in Digital Preservation: Two perspectives

13. DRI Presentation
• Reliable, long-term access to
managed digital resources to its
designated community, now and
in the future
• Must also look at entire
organisation running the
repository
• Understand threats and risks to
the system
• Constant monitoring, planning and
maintenance
TRAC

14. DRI Presentation
1. OAIS
2. Data Seal of Approval (DANS)
3. DIN 31644: Criteria for Trustworthy Digital
Archives
4. ISO 16363: Audit and certification of trustworthy
digital repositories
5. European Framework
Standards for Assessing Trust: Certification

15. DRI Presentation
Open Archival Information System
• Conceptualisation of the environment for preservation
• Not an implementation/architecture
1. OAIS Reference Model

16. DRI Presentation
2. Data Seal of Approval
Based on self-assessment
16 Guidelines
Criteria: The Data are…
• Available on the internet
• Accessible
• Usable
• Reliable
• Citable

17. DRI Presentation
4. ISO 16363
3. DIN 31644 Criteria for Trustworthy Digital Archives (34)
1. organisation
2. management of intellectual entities and
their representations (digital objects)
3. infrastructure and security
Audit and Certification of Trustworthy
Digital Repositories (100+)
• Grew out of OAIS and TRAC
• Same categories as DIN

18. DRI Presentation
5. European Framework for Audit and
Certification of Digital Repositories
• Memorandum of Agreement July 2010
• http://www.trusteddigitalrepository.eu/
• “mechanisms to ensure that the groups can
collaborate in setting up an integrated framework for
auditing and certifying digital repositories”
• 3 levels of increasing trustworthiness

19. DRI Presentation
5. European Framework for Audit and
Certification of Digital Repositories (continued)

20. DRI Presentation
Key Aspects of Trust
a. Authenticity & Provenance
b. Attention to Standards and Quality of data
c. Formal Agreements & Procedures
d. Data Security & Access Authentication

21. a. Authenticity and Provenance
DRI Presentation
• Bitstream
• Accuracy of data
• Traceable ingest and storage
“It is not possible (feasible) to preserve electronic resources in the
form of original unchanged content information: we have only the
ability to reproduce them in the form of authentic copies thanks to
the preservation of valid copies of digital components” (Maria
Guercio, Sapienza, Universita di Roma)
 We trust these copies to be accurate representations

22. b. Attention to Standards and Quality of data
DRI Presentation
• Metadata Standards
• Controlled Vocabularies
• “Clean” data
• Interoperability
• Open Source Software

23. c. Formal Agreements & Procedures
DRI Presentation
• Depositor & User Agreements
• Copyright and Licencing
• Takedown policy

24. d. Data Security & Authentication Protocols
DRI Presentation
• Privacy Concerns
• Embargos
• Logins
• Format Migration

25. So far… mainly technical decisions
Planning, process, auditing

26. Back to relationship building…
DRI Presentation

27. DRI Presentation
• “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone
or something: relations have to be built on trust”
• “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength,
or truth of someone or something”
• “one in which confidence is placed”
Back to definitions of Trust:

28. DRI Presentation
Building Trust through Broader Engagement
• Consult with Stakeholders
• Good/Best Practices
• International Networks/e-Infrastructures
• Collaborative Projects
• Training and Skills Development
• Guidelines and Policy Development

29. DRI Presentation
Consult with Stakeholders
• Interviews/surveys
• Requirements Gathering
• Builds community of interest
• Stakeholders become part of process

30. Consultation: Interviews with content holders
DRI Presentation
• Qualitative interviews
• 40 content-holding institutions -
current approaches to digital data
• Launch of National Report in Oct
2012: Digital Archiving in Ireland:
National Survey of the Humanities and
Social Sciences
• www.dri.ie/publications

31. Formats

32. Metadata

33. DRI Presentation
Good/Best Practices
• Not a Platonic ideal
• Must address user needs
• While also moving
towards good practices
Current Practices Good/Best Practices

34. DRI Presentation
International Networks/e-Infrastructures
• DARIAH
• DPC – Digital Preservation Coalition
• APARSEN
• European Data Forum
• Research Data Alliance (Dublin March 2014)
• ALLEA
e.g.

35. DRI Presentation
International Networks/e-Infrastructures
• help create good practices
• places decisions in a wider context
• demonstrates commitment to interoperability
and wider use
• exposure to cutting edge technologies, tools,
decisions
• helps to insure longevity of choices

36. DRI Presentation
International Networks/e-Infrastructures
The best use of your data is
the one someone else
thought of.

37. DRI Presentation
Collaborative Projects
• Pilots/small demos
• Scale is small, benefits large
• Builds partnerships and trust
• Shows what can be achieved

38. DRI Presentation
Collaborative Projects
e.g. Linked Logainm / Location LODer

39. DRI Presentation
Linked Logainm collaborative project
Making LOGAINM available as Linked Data

40. DRI Presentation
Training and Skills Development
• Also about showing what can be done
• Better skills in community = better data
• Trust built through your demonstrated
expertise in the area

41. DRI Presentation
Guidelines and Policy Development
• Shares acquired expertise
• Moves community in a common direction
• Greater interoperability
• Drives towards good practices
• Influences future choices
• E.g. National Steering Committee on Open
Access Statement

42. DRI Presentation
Contact me!
n.harrower@ria.ie
@dri_ireland
www.dri.ie
slideshare.net/dri_ireland