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Digital Depot - eDAVID npo [ do it yourself ]
[ project description ]
an overview of project goals, deliverables and results, and a description of the target group.
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[ publications ]
publications and documentation produced specifically within the framework of this project. more...>
[ links ]
links to project partners and a selection of references to interesting related projects.
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The Digital Depot project builds on research carried out in a number of prior related investigations. This section offers a thematic overview of existing relevant documentation produced in the course of these investigations. Most of the documents were published in Dutch (although some English translations are available).

Subjects:
General information
  • The DAVID manual "Digital archiving: the new challenge. Legal and archival issues" (2005), is an excellent introduction to the legal, technical and organisational aspects of digital archiving. The manual offers a broad introduction to durable and reliable archiving of digital documents. Additional and more specialised documentation is referenced (e.g. the DAVID Guidelines & Advice and project reports) and are also included in this thematic overview.
    The legal section pertains to the Flemish authorities and government, but can also be read as an introduction to a number of general legal issues connected with archiving electronic records.
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Archiving email and office documents
  • The article "Archiving office documents" provides a concise introduction to the question of archiving email and office documents.
  • The technical report "Filing and archiving e-mail," contains a extensive description of the bespoke archiving procedure developed for emails and attachments within the city of Antwerp. The report also defines general quality requirements for archiving procedures.
  • The specific legal aspects of archiving are discussed in the article by : "H. Dekeyser en S. Van den Eynde, Archiveren van e-mail: de controlerechten van de records manager, in: X. (ed.), Mediarecht, Brussel, Kluwer, losbladig, Telecommunicatie en telematica 7.3"
  • Digital Archiving: Guideline and Advice nr.1: Archiving e-mail", Digital Archiving: Guideline and Advice nr.1: Archiving e-mail", comprises a concise description of an archiving procedure for email and attachments and illustrates how it can be applied in practice.
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Archiving websites
  • "Archiveren van websites: een kwestie van waardering en 'capture'", (2005, in Dutch only) is an introduction to the hows and whys of archiving websites (both in general and in specific detail for Flemish governments). The paper also draws on the DAVID decision model to describe how an archiving procedure can be developed and put into practice.
  • "From backup to archived website", (2001) discusses how the website of the city of Antwerp was archived, identifying the technical problems that arose and the lessons learned for future archiving activities.
  • "DAVID Rapport 7, Archiveren van websites", (2002, in Dutch only) describes in detail the importance of archiving websites and the main issues that should be considered. The paper describes how a digital archiving strategy can be developed that takes these issues into account. Technical details are provided and the legal implications are also considered.
  • "Guideline and Advice, nr.5: Websites management for record-keeping", provides a brief overview of the reasons why websites should be archived. It contains guidelines for website design that facilitate archiving at a later stage, and further guidelines concerning the construction and maintenance of the archive itself. These guidelines are based on the framework outlined in the DAVID report nr 7.
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Authenticity
  • The article"Digital signatures and electronic records", (2005) deals with the archiving questions raised by documents with digital signatures. The concept of PKI digital signatures is introduced and a number of problems posed by the use of digital signatures as proof of authenticity and integrity for digital documents are discussed. Finally, suggestions are made for a number of possible solutions.
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Digital Depot
  • Digital containers for shipment into the future (2005), presents the eDAVID storage method for items in a digital depot. This is one of the ways to interpret the Archival Information Packages (AIP) described in the Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model. The storage method is based on the use of 'XML container' files. Some knowledge of XML and OAIS is expected.
  • • eDAVID developed several XML schemas to assist the city of Antwerp in implementing the storage method described in "Digital containers for shipment into the future". These XML schemas define the formal model for XML-documents.
    XML schemas are available for:
  • "Standaarden voor digitale archiefdocumenten"(2001-2005, in Dutch only), is focused on the choice of the right file format for archiving. A documented overview of possible file formats for different types of documents is given.
  • <XML/> and digital recordkeeping, (2002) discusses the use of XML for archiving purposes. The article offers a general introduction to XML and related technologies, complete with a review of the different ways in which archival services can use XML when archiving electronic records. Practical implementations and examples are also provided.
  • XML Topic Maps for electronic recordkeeping, (2002). This publication is concerned with the use of XTM (XML Topic Maps) for describing archives at a meta-level. Topic maps are described, followed by a discussion of how they may be applied in a records archiving context. A practical example of an XTM is included.
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Carriers
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Legal frame
A number of legal issues pertain when archiving electronic records. These are mainly questions about privacy and copyright law. Previous DAVID research has dedicated considerable attention to these questions, in close collaboration with ICRI: The general legal framework that surrounds a digital depot will be explored further in the course of this project. Several archiving test cases will be used to identify which legal questions remain unanswered.
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Guidelines and advice
To these "Guidelines and advice" documents, is regularly referred to in the rest of the documentation. The guidelines are summarizing documents, ideal to look back to as a list of main attention points.
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