The digital material is what it purports to be. In the case of electronic records, it refers to the trustworthiness of the electronic record as a record.
What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?
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Data safety and security are compromised. |
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Technologies used become obsolete; this may apply to elements such as hardware, software and file formats. |
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The bits and bytes making up the digital information degrade over time. |
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Insufficient contextual information (metadata) to understand the information and for it to be useful. |
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Existing storage systems do not protect records from unauthorised change or corruption |
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Staff fail to comply with organizational policy and processes in relation to management of records (reliability, authenticity, usability etc.), |
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Loss of corporate memory |
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Inability to access legal documentation, institutional history and decision-making precedents |
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Litigation from consumers if data made available is not reliable and trustworthy |
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Preservation processes do not adequately consider rendering and display. |
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Digital objects/collections are not captured in a suitable preservation system |
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Absence of appropriately skilled and invested people responsible for digital preservation |
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Absence of a documented workflow for the creation/acquisition and then maintenance of digital files |
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What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create?
| Organization Type | Digital Preservation can... |
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demonstrate a commitment to transparency and accountability by sustaining an accurate digital record |
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inspire the trust and understanding of future users, by providing a complete digital record |
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instill trust in cultural and creative data by demonstrating a complete cultural record |
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enable tracking of unauthorized changes, copies and access leading to greater trust and assurance |