Legacy Video Files
Legacy Video Files
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Video files in any format containing moving pictures and sound recordings, particularly those that are proprietary, contain or utilize encrypted Digital Rights Management (DRM) or carrier bound. |
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Digital Species: Sound and Vision, Formats |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent losses in this group, such as the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples STARDIVA; AVI; MOV; MKV; MP3; MP4; on DVD or other carriers. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of replication; encryption; digital rights management; proliferation of file formats; weak or non-existent technical documentation; lack of preservation capability or commitment; poorly managed or digitization processes or QA; reliance on encoding/decoding software. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Effective replication; normalization of file formats; strong technical documentation; preservation pathway; good descriptive cataloguing; trusted repository. |
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2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 under ‘Video files’ to emphasize the issues of video preservation that pertain to offline recording, whether from broadcast, film industry, institutional and private collections. The 2019 Jury noted the connections between this entry and others relating to social media but argued for a standalone to emphasize the range of issues tied to numerous formats and standards. The 2021 Jury discussed the need for further rescoping, arguing that the entry was too broad to be useful without specifying at-risk types or formats. For this reason, its scope was narrowed to legacy videos that are proprietary, encrypted or carrier-bound. The classification remained Endangered with a 2021 trend towards greater risk given the growing content of at-risk legacy video files but a limited mandate. The 2022 Taskforce noted no change to the trend (they agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before). The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). Additionally, they agreed that a submitted Bit List nomination for the NSV-based STARDIVA storage format would provide a good example of a video file format especially at risk due to aggravating conditions rather than a separate stand-alone entry. |
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Additional Comments There are simply too many formats and too many standards, but the FFMPEG project and its related tools have significantly mitigated the technical risk to most video files. This enables a practitioner to transform the vast majority of file formats to safer preservation formats while retaining significant properties. However, technical risk is only one of the factors. There needs to be institutional engagement with audio-visual data as a priority. The issue then becomes one of identifying the organizations responsible and, constrained by the cost to store video data, making effective selection decisions. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
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No ChangeLegacy Media Art
Legacy Media Art
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Media art in storage or not otherwise displayed but where the artists or technicians are available to support installation. |
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Digital Species: Media Art |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment in one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on many people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a small effort to preserve materials in this group, requiring the application of proven tools and techniques. |
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Examples Media art in storage. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of documentation to enable maintenance; lack of clarity with respect to intellectual property; complex interdependencies on specific hardware, software or operating systems; lack of capacity in the gallery or workshop; lack of strategic investment; complex external dependencies; loss of institutional memory resulting from staff churn; poor working relationship between the gallery and artist/workshop; lack of conservation assessment. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Strong documentation; clarity of preservation path and ensuing responsibilities; proven preservation plan; capacity of workshop to support re-installation; capacity of gallery to conserve; capacity of gallery to re-install; retention of institutional memory including archives of correspondence between gallery and artist/workshop; strong and continuing working relationship between the gallery and artist/workshop; regular conservation assessment. |
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2023 Review Media Art was introduced in 2017, though with particular reference to historical media art. The 2019 Jury added and scoped this entry to ensure greater specificity in its recommendation. It is intended to represent works held in galleries but no longer displayed, but where there is a continuing working relationship between the gallery and the artist or workshop and reasonable expectation that support for preservation could still be obtained when required. The 2020 review found a trend towards greater risk, given that many museums and galleries, which often rely on visitors for income, have been closed for extended periods. Moreover, any form of digital materials that rely on an individual’s knowledge is at particular risk by a pandemic. For similar reasons, the 2021 Jury agreed with the continued trend towards greater risk, noting that digital materials in museums and galleries records are likely to be at greater risk in these circumstances. The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend), although noted a decrease in imminence of action as well as the required effort to preserve. |
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Additional Comments This entry attempts to capture a point in the lifecycle of media art where preservation risks are increasing but not yet critical. There is a risk that preservation issues will not become apparent until the piece is brought out of storage when considered for loan or exhibition – often on timescales that make it too late to address preservation concerns effectively. Galleries should be aware that the range of data/formats/hardware/software embedded in media art can be wide and vary at different speeds. Sooner action is needed to prevent the material from becoming Critically Endangered once the artist has died or relationships break down. Where the artist is still around, there is a major reduction in the inevitability of loss and its potential to be a potentially newsworthy subject. The loss of it would be just as impactful and significant though. Preservation of legacy media artworks is dependent on access to obsolete technology and also the knowledge of how to operate said technology. Documentation around the production process and artist intent can be limited. This is a risk in terms of preserving a truly authentic artwork. See also:
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Electronic Hospital and Medical Records
Electronic Hospital and Medical Records
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Personal medical records and records of hospital treatment are increasingly—if not uniformly—born digital. By implication, those records should be retained through the lifetime of the patient, or in some instances longer as required for intergenerational study; and yet there is little evidence of the medical profession participating in the digital preservation community. |
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Digital Species: Sensitive Data |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2017 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Immediate action necessary. Where detected should be stabilized and reported as a matter of urgency. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on many people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems inevitable: loss has already occurred or is expected to occur before tools or techniques develop. |
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Examples Medical scans; records of treatment and care plans; health advice and notifications. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Loss of context; loss of authenticity or integrity; poor storage; lack of understanding; churn of staff; significant volumes of data; significant diversity of data; ill-informed records management; poorly developed transfer and integrity checking; poorly developed migration or normalizations specifications; long standing protocols or procedures that apply unsuitable paper processes to digital materials; encryption. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Well managed data infrastructure; preservation enabled at the point of creation; carefully managed authenticity; use of persistent identifiers; well-managed records management processes; application of records management standards; recognition of preservation requirements at highest levels; strategic investment in digital preservation; preservation roadmap; participation in the digital preservation community. |
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2023 Review This entry was first submitted in 2017 under ‘Medical and hospital records.’ At that time, there was limited capacity to address the topic. It was published as ‘of concern’ to revisit and review by the 2019 Jury and also independently received as a submission to the open nomination process under ‘Electronic hospital and medical records.’ The entry covers a broad range of material, and it may be useful in future years to split the entry into more discrete entries. Still, the 2021 Jury agreed to keep the current description and classification to draw attention to the scale of the digital preservation challenges which arise in hospitals and the medical profession. Additionally, the same reasoning for greater risk in 2020 was used for 2021; there has been significant strain through the Covid pandemic, with resources stretched to meet an overwhelming demand and rigid, exacting protocols. In this environment, it is hard to avoid the sense that records are also now at greater risk. The Jury further commented that hospital records may be at greater risk than we think, where there may already be poor maintenance of records during their lifecycle, poor migration planning, etc. The 2022 Taskforce recommended that the 2023 Council bring in additional subject matter expertise for feedback and comment on any changes in risks relating to growth and volume of born digital records, increasing or peculiar budget strain conditions, changes pertaining to sensitivity and potential destruction linked to ransomware or conflicts. The 2023 Council agreed with the previous Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend) though also suggesting an increased timeline for imminence of action and greater inevitability of loss. |
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Additional Comments Increasing sensitivity and awareness of data protection requirements could act inadvertently as a barrier to lifecycle data management. It is striking how little evidence is of the health technology companies participating in the global digital preservation community. The processes implemented by Sao Joao hospital (see below) are encouraging, but too many medical establishments are operating in an excessively ad-hoc way when it comes to records management. As well as preservation, issues of data protection and ethical obligations are to the forefront when working with this kind of material. Case Studies or Examples:
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Digital Recordings Published via Cloud-based Music Sharing Platforms
Digital Recordings Published via Cloud-based Music Sharing Platforms
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Music licensed and playable through corporate platforms protected by rights management and subscription revenues and presented as compressed single-track recordings. |
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Digital Species: Sound and Vision, Cloud |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months, detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, SoundCloud. |
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‘Crtically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of preservation capability within corporate systems; conflating backup with preservation; loss of original multitrack recordings; lack of preservation voice at executive level; poor planning and roadmap for corporate infrastructure; slapdash procurement or migration to new systems; mergers and acquisitions; profusion of corporate systems; complex intellectual property rights; single point of failure; technical protection measures that inhibit preservation actions; encryption. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Strong backup and documentation; use of open formats and open source software; data management planning for preservation; licensing that enables preservation; corporate preservation capability; resilient to hacking; authenticity and integrity managed; recognition of preservation functions at executive level; technology watch; regular preservation audits; accreditation and participation in the professional preservation community. |
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2023 Review This entry was previously under the 2017 ‘Digital Music Production and Sharing,’ split by the 2019 Jury into four subsets, recognizing the different challenges faced. This entry is particularly concerned with the music industry at scale and the services that connect the vast majority of artists to their audiences. These are typically large and well-funded, and typically recognize the value of the content they publish. But this is not without risks. It is perhaps surprising that the music industry does not yet have any equivalent to the non-print legal deposit regime that applies to other types of publication, including sheet music in some jurisdictions. The 2021 Jury noted a large amount of vulnerable material on user-driven platforms where material can be very ephemeral (removals resulting from, e.g., account deletion, space limitations, copyright claims) and the issue of licensing with the instability of the business model. For this reason, the scope was widened to include ad hoc sharing so that this entry broadly includes all platforms such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp, which are more community-driven, as well as Spotify, resulting in a raised classification and 2021 trend towards greater risk. The 2022 Taskforce noted no change to the trend (they agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before). The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend) but with noted an increase in the imminence of action. |
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Additional Comments The preservation of recorded music is one of our generation’s most important jobs, but it is unclear where responsibility lies. There are commercial incentives to do so, but also incentives to reduce costs. Whilst public archives are permitted to keep this material in some jurisdictions, they typically do not have the resources to do so. Consequently, there is an expectation that rights holders will maintain their own archival copies but may not do so. National collecting organizations may need to develop a role to address this. If managed well, there is hope. It may not be an issue in the cases where the production company would hold original recordings and, if a streaming service lost a track (e.g., Spotify), they would go to the production company and ask for a copy. However, it is an issue for those outside of production companies and platforms such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp, which are more community-driven. |
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Digital Music and Ephemera Shared on Social Media
Digital Music and Ephemera Shared on Social Media
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Digital materials created by musicians and fans as a by-product of performance or recording, shared on websites and other social media platforms. |
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Digital Species: Sound and Vision, Social Media |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to address losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples Fan sites; private or illicit recordings of concerts; informal music sharing between networks such as TikTok, MySpace and Facebook. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Dependence on social media provider; lack of offline equivalent; infringing intellectual property right; unstable or small community of interest; encryption. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Offline equivalent; intellectual property rights conducive to preservation; partnership with collecting institutions; availability to web archiving. |
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2023 Review In 2019, this entry was created as a subset of a previous 2017 entry, ‘Digital Music Production and Sharing,’ which was split to draw attention to the different challenges faced by the different forms. This entry overlaps with other entries relating to social media as well as those relating to community-generated content but is a separate entry to emphasize the context in which music is shared and enjoyed. This context could be lost if our attention were on products controlled by studios or artists. The 2021 Jury discussed content increasingly being shared across multiple platforms, which is both good and bad for risk. A multi-platform nature provides an element of protection against total loss, but the role and type of interaction with the content on each platform are also important and expanding with limited attempts at preservation. For these reasons, the 2021 trend moved towards greater risk with the need for selective approaches based on the increasing volume of material. The 2022 Taskforce noted no change to the trend (they agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before). The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). |
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Additional Comments The ephemera ais increasingly stored on websites that themselves are fragile and are removed, and nothing held on these services can be relied on in archival timeframes. Web archiving and social media archiving have matured, so a representative sample is probably readily available for particular countries which are more mature in their digital preservation activities as opposed to other countries which are not. This entry also connects to other entries ‘Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use,’ ‘Data Posted to Defunct or Little-used Social Media Platforms’. There are similarities in regard to increased uncertainty around major social media sites, such as X (previously Twitter), and the preservation risks associated with underlying social media preservation which has an impact on the digital objects that fall under this entry, however this entry draws attention to additional risks associated with preservation of the digital forms and contexts in which these materials are shared and enjoyed. Case Studies or Examples:
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Corporate Records of Long Duration on Network Drives, Intranets and EDRMS
Corporate Records of Long Duration on Network Drives, Intranets and EDRMS
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Records on internal corporate network drives, intranets or document management services where access is limited to a distinct group of users, and in which the lifecycle of the record or the business processes they support is greater than the technology on which they are created or retained. |
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Digital Species: Sensitive Data |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2017 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months; detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on many people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to preserve materials in this group, with the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples Born-digital records of small and medium sized enterprises; fasting-changing internal manuals, advice or policies shared on intranets or EDRMS; records of long-lived products and services; Historic guidelines and manuals which evidence ‘best practice’; Documentation supporting long-lived contractual relations; Online terms and conditions; Corporate Slack channels; Google Drives; EDRMS; Email. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of systematic preservation function; lack of preservation path or plan for data; dependence on proprietary products or formats; poor management of data protection; political or commercial interference; lack of offline equivalent; over-abundance through poor disposal or naming and version control; lack of capacity; lack of commitment; loss or lack of documentation; sector-specific software or data types; encryption. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Preservation infrastructure and pathways; replication; appraisal and selection including de-duplication. |
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2023 Review This entry was added in 2017 to draw attention to the pressing need for digital preservation in business, especially in small to medium enterprises. The 2020 Jury noted how the Covid Pandemic has caused profound dislocation across the economy and placed many companies and agencies at financial risk. The likelihood of liquidation, mergers or acquisitions means that these records are trending towards greater risk. The 2021 Jury agreed with the trend towards greater, adding that increased risk is not necessarily because there are no assigned parent archives to take on these materials; rather, it is because they too often sit in these spaces for some time before being transferred to the archives. They are often not well managed or maintained by their creating agencies, putting them at risk of accidental deletion or corruption. There remain increased risks without business continuity and trust. The 2023 Council agreed with the continued Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend), though also noting an increased imminence of action needed for this entry and highlighted the importance of processes in the preservation of these records. |
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Additional Comments The 2023 Council additionally recommends that the next Jury review considers rescoping this entry, possibly adding a new entry about covering sensitive data in databases that would fall into both the Sensitive Data and new Databases digital species groups. Corporate records should form part of organizational records management schemes, and so responsibilities should be clear; however, this may be much more challenging for smaller organizations without dedicated roles or with complex data types. Processes become as important as technology when it comes to preserving this kind of material. If an organization does not have good records organization, naming conventions etc. that may make material as vulnerable to loss as technological failure or format obsolescence could. Closer collaboration over the digital record lifecycle with recordkeeping organizations such as IRMS/ARA and digital preservation organizations would help to ensure best practice from (before) record creation to its long-term preservation and would help to identify any risks and bridge gaps ‘from the cradle to the grave’. Joining forces and resources will enable the community to raise awareness of the impact of best practices on the organizational governance and related efficiencies. See also:
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Content on Cloud Video Services Produced by the Service Provider
Content on Cloud Video Services Produced by the Service Provider
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Video materials, primarily films and television programs, which are produced by companies that maintain their own distribution platforms and are exclusively available through these platforms. |
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Digital Species: Sound and Vision, Cloud |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of corporate preservation planning; lack of preservation capability; conflating backup with preservation; loss of original recordings; lack of preservation voice at executive level; poor planning and roadmap for infrastructure; slapdash procurement or migration to new systems; mergers and acquisitions; profusion of corporate systems; complex intellectual property rights; single point of failure; technical protection measures that inhibit reasonable preservation actions. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Backup and documentation; use of open formats and open source software; data management planning; licensing that enables preservation; corporate preservation capability; resilient to hacking; authenticity and integrity managed; recognition of preservation functions at executive level; technology watch; preservation audits; participation in the preservation community. |
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2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 to represent collections that are highly significant in cultural and social terms. It was adopted as the Jury was unclear whether the content could be played outside of the producers’ publication platform. This introduces technical dependencies between content and software amplified by rights management. The 2021 Jury agreed with the Endangered classification but discussed how the growth of content produced with no or limited preservation mandate has led to greater risk, and the continued scale of that growth and opacities regarding preservation by companies also led to the 2022 Taskforce noting a trend towards even greater risk. However, just as the 2022 Taskforce was completing its work, they welcomed the news of BFI taking on responsibility for the preservation of key titles from Netflix, commenting on how it represents a commitment to act on previous recommendations but not yet a ‘material improvement’ at that stage so there was no change to the 2022 trend at that time. The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). |
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Additional Comments This entry has five aspects to consider: 1. It falls outside the scope of traditional regulatory frameworks and archiving has not yet been included in any legislative framework, unlike broadcast TV, where there is a designated archive in most developed nations. 2. As a result, the collection and preservation of content from online platforms is underdeveloped, and the content remains unavailable in public archives. 3. These risks are mitigated by the fact that the commercial archives are technologically advanced, with mature digital ecosystems and skills, and much of the content has a ‘long tail’ business model, and as commercial products have value, preservation incentives are clear. 4. However, these are often stored at scale on LTO tapes, and so specific issues arise with the obsolescence of LTO tape technologies for the broadcast sector. 5. Nonetheless, issues remain around archiving relevant assets which may not be valued by the production company. It may also be worth considering broadening legal deposit legislation so there is a mandate to deposit this content with an appropriate repository - though the volume may be unwelcome as many institutions are under-resourced. Case Studies or Examples:
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Cloud-based Services and Communications Platforms
Cloud-based Services and Communications Platforms
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Digital content produced, stored and accessed within commercial cloud-based services and communications platforms. This entry broadly includes services based on a costed subscription and contract business models, premium or institutional versions, and also free online utilities offered at no cost to end-users but with a business model based on gathering and reselling consumer insights. |
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Digital Species: Cloud |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months; detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost. |
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Examples Google services such as Drive, Docs, Sheets; Microsoft services such as Sharepoint, Teams; Slack, Prezi, Yammer, DropBox. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Unstable business model from service providers; abandonment of the service due to various reasons (e.g., service provider bought over or pivots to new market opportunities); lack of export functionality; unstable terms and conditions; lack of onsite copy of key media; lack of investment in infrastructure; lack of strategic plan for IT provision; confusion on IPR; conflating preservation and access. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Clear export and migration pathways; preservation responsibility shouldered by the service provider; Offline backup for key media; fit to preservation and records management plan; strategic roadmap for adoption. |
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2023 Review This entry was added in 2021 as a merging of two separate 2019 entries, ‘Consumer Cloud-based Utilities’ and ‘Premium or Institutional Social Media’ to place emphasis on the similarities and common threats faced by services that are both ‘paid-for’ and ‘free-at-the-point-of-use’, namely similar aggravating conditions relating to increasing dependencies on the vendor’s business models and the terms and conditions imposed. The 2021 Jury also noted a trend towards increased risk in light of greater reliance on the cloud and localized disruptions to cloud services over the pandemic and wider (global) dependence on these services, especially Google Drive, for record-keeping and business workflows. The 2022 Taskforce agreed with the previous assessment, with no change to trend (agreeing that the risks remained on the same basis as presented in 2021 with no significant change towards even greater or reduced risk). The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to trend), but also noted increases in imminence and effortto preserve, recognizing that while the need for major efforts to prevent or reduce losses continues, it is now much more likely that loss of material has already occurred, and will continue to do so, by the time tools or techniques have been developed. This entry was previously categorized under the Social Media digital species. The 2023 Council recommended adjusting this and other social media entries in light of how web-based and cloudbased business products and services have developed in recent years. This included:
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Additional Comments Most platforms allow users to export their own data from them, which is helpful. Similar to the Born Digital Photos and Video entry, significance and impact scores are high because some users exclusively create and store important content on these services but uses for these services vary greatly. Also, subscription services, such as Microsoft Teams, though far from having adequate preservation provision, will have more robust back-up and recovery governed by institutional contracts, whereas Google Drive / Google 'office' services free-at-the-point of use do not provide these mitigating measures. Dropbox is a content hosting / storage service and does support downloading a file the same quality as the file uploaded. If any one of these platforms disappeared overnight or put new restrictions on access to user content, it would certainly make headlines, as witnessed with Flickr's change in storage limit capacity for non-paying users. There are similarities and common threats faced by services that are both ‘paid-for’ and ‘free-atthe-point-of-use’, namely aggravating conditions relating to increasing dependencies on the vendor’s business models and the terms and conditions imposed. However, with digital materials from consumer cloud-based utilities, the business model and sustainability can only be presumed, and contracts tend to be asymmetrical in favour of the supplier. Moreover, because these services have a low barrier to entry, they may be favoured by agencies or individuals least able to respond to closure or loss. If referring to the entire platforms and risk of the entirety of data on these, the concern is that the corporation providing the service suddenly decides it is no longer of value to them. In these circumstances, materials could be removed quickly. That has happened previously and will certainly be seen again. Preservation is not a commitment that most providers make. Existing tools could be modified to tackle some of the closed networks. Still, it is likely to require investments, perhaps related to corporate records in some cases (thinking about internal Slacks, for instance), and more education about the importance of preserving this material and not trusting the publishing platforms to host the content forever. Case Studies or Examples:
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Born Digital Photographs and Video shared via Social Media or Uploaded to Cloud Services
Born Digital Photographs and Video shared via Social Media or Uploaded to Cloud Services
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Digital images or video with no analogue equivalent and where the only copy is online with a social media platform. This entry includes images or videos created and shared as part of personal digital archiving, but also for businesses and others publishing data only via these services. Users of these services will likely lose their data if social media companies fold or make extracting or downloading data difficult. |
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Digital Species: Social Media, Sound and Vision, Web, Cloud |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2018 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed, the material will likely have been lost. |
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Examples Flickr; Vimeo; YouTube; Instagram; Periscope; Snapchat; TikTok; Vine; Facebook; X (previously Twitter). |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of preservation capacity in provider; lack of explicit preservation commitment or incentive from provider to preserve; lack of storage replication by provider; dependence on proprietary products or formats; poor management of data protection; inaccessibility to automated web crawlers; political or commercial interference; lack of offline equivalent; over-abundance; poorly managed intellectual property rights; lossy compression applied in upload scripts. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Offline backup; lossless compression; good documentation; access to web harvesting; clarity of intellectual property rights that enable preservation; credible preservation commitment from service provider; export pathway. |
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2023 Review This entry was added by the 2018 Jury as a subset of a broader social media entry first introduced in 2017 to draw attention to the different challenges faced by the growing volumes of photographs and video recordings on social media continuing to rise and, therefore, the scale of the challenge to ensure a meaningful legacy aggravated by the issue of overabundance in which appraisal decisions for preservation or deletion are overwhelmed. The entry shares many challenges with others in the social media group, with a dependency on a global service provider whose business model can only be presumed and tied to users via asymmetrical contracts that favour the supplier. Moreover, because these services have a low barrier to entry, they are used by agencies or individuals least able to respond to closure or loss. Both the 2020 and 2021 reviews of the entry noted a trend towards greater risk. The 2020 trend referenced the closure of the EverAlbum photo storage and changes to the Flickr free service, which provided examples of the short turnaround of closures within the photo-sharing community and pointed to the volatility in the market. The 2021 trend was added in light of surrounding global crises (predominantly the coronavirus pandemic, compounded by vaccine hesitancy, but also the deterioration of the world's democracies) as a result of widespread misinformation, increasing the significance and impact of loss of digital materials. The 2022 Task Force agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before, with no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk (‘no change’ to trend). The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification and noted an increase in effort to preserve, recognizing that while the need for major efforts to prevent or reduce losses continues, it is now much more likely that loss of material has already occurred, and will continue to do so, by the time tools or techniques develop. The 2023 Council also recommended adjusting this and other social media entries in light of how web-based and cloud-based business products and services have developed in recent years. This restructuring and revision included:
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Additional Comments The 2023 Council additionally recommended that the next major review revisit and consider merging the Born Digital Photographs and Video shared via Social Media Platforms and Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use entries. This is mostly due to the fact that so many of the ‘regular’ social media platforms have tended toward more ways to mimic or copy TikTok style videos, and making the distinction will become harder in the future since they all have similar functionality and ways to create photo/video content. We can point to some examples of content only on YouTube, for instance, that may be desired for acquisition for a library. Typically, YouTube would be acquired through web archiving, but with recent and ongoing challenges capturing this content, it may require contacting the creator to try to acquire the original video files to preserve through other workflows. This creates the challenge of determining who to reach out to, how to transfer those files and, if the files only exist on the social media platform, how to extract them to transfer to an organization for preservation. With crawling capabilities limited these days, Libraries will have to rely more on individuals archiving their own content and donating it to organizations. It's not clear what that workflow looks like and if there are adequate methods to support it. The types of users for these services vary greatly - from a private individual uploading a few videos to share with friends to major agencies who use the platform to disseminate important information or research. The extent to which private individuals and even large institutions are aware of digital preservation risks is unclear, though anecdotal evidence suggests that awareness is extremely low. Therefore, it can be assumed that most users (regardless of the significance of their content) do not keep local copies or take other measures to mitigate the risk of loss from these types of platforms. Additionally, risk varies from platform to platform. YouTube, for example, only allows low-quality downloads even for content owners. Therefore, if a content owner lost or deleted an original video file, it would be impossible to recover a high-quality copy from YouTube. The vast majority of content may be accessible for as long as the platform where it is hosted is popular (and has a viable business model); however, more insidious content (such as malicious misinformation or hate speech) may be deleted by content creators (potentially backed by hostile governments) to avoid prosecution or tracing. It is unclear to what extent these platform providers are compelled to provide access to servers / deleted content or private content for evidential purposes in the course of legal or criminal investigations. The lack of transparency and standardized international regulation of these platforms make their content vulnerable to exploitation and malicious use by individuals, corporations, and hostile governments. With digital materials from premium or institutional social media services, the business model and sustainability are more obvious, and contracts may be enforceable more readily. Moreover, because these services have a slightly higher barrier to entry, they may be favoured by agencies better able to respond to closure or loss. Traditional web archiving can be employed where the user pays for a service, but the content is ultimately publicly available (such as Flickr). But much is unclear about how to preserve internal social media / closed networks that web archiving cannot get to or existing tools do not cover. Case Studies or Examples:
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3D Digital Engineering Drawings
3D Digital Engineering Drawings
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3D digital engineering models produced as part of building or engineering design processes. The production of such drawings has progressed from a digital analogue of paper to complex digital environments such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) which combine original drawings, libraries of compound objects, and links to external data sets such as about the performance of materials and maintenance of parts. |
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Digital Species: Engineering Data |
Trend in 2022:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2017 |
Trend in 2023:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on many people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
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Examples Building Information Management (BIM), Computer Aided Design (CAD), Product Data Management in engineering and architecture. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of preservation mandate or collecting institution; lack of preservation capability in data owner; irregularities in supply chains; complex or long data supply chains; dependencies on proprietary software or formats; lack of persistent identifiers; poorly managed IPR; temporary joint-venture companies; poor records management; poor regulatory compliance; encryption. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Well managed data infrastructure; preservation from the point creation; carefully managed IPR; persistent identifiers; well managed records management processes; recognition of preservation requirements at highest levels; strategic investment in digital preservation; host clearly identified; participation in the digital preservation community. |
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2023 Review This entry was first submitted in 2017 when the Jury lacked the capacity to consider it in detail. In 2019 it was assessed with additional expertise co-opted, with the decision to remain a very broad category, including major one-off construction and engineering projects, a long tail of more minor building programmes, and large volume but homogeneous production processes in engineering. The 2021 Jury agreed with its Endangered status. The key consideration is that the lifecycle of the products and the data that describes them vastly exceeds the short life cycles of the infrastructures on which they are designed. This challenge is compounded by supply chains that may involve many different stages of production, as well as the delivery of large projects through transitory joint ventures companies that have no residual mechanism or capacity to preserve the data thereafter. Although there have been advancements in the development of new preservation tools and techniques for these materials, there are recent examples of the loss of 3D architectural drawings; these have had a huge impact, especially at the local level, as well as significant impacts on infrastructure, travel, and how people interact with built environments throughout the world. The 2021 trend moved towards greater risk to reflect this. The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification and seconded the trend reported last time; risks continue on the same basis as before with no significant trends towards even greater or reduced risk. Most of the complexities of the format and issues remain the same, such as reliance on proprietary software and complex or unknown copyright with the datasets. Moving forwards, it was highlighted by the Council that there needs to be a greater focus and understanding on the long term preservation of these outputs within the sector. |
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Additional Comments Data in this category enables the safety and security of critical infrastructure, but the responsibility to maintain data is unclear, nor are retention periods clear. Although examples of good practice exist, the extent to which there are working solutions at large seems doubtful, and it is surprising that there are not more diverse success stories to report. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
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