Digital materials created by musicians and fans as a by-product of performance or recording, not otherwise published or shared. The use of ‘archives’ in this context refers to music production data that is in an archive.

Digital Species: Sound and Vision

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previously: Critically Endangered

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

It would require a major effort to prevent losses in this group, such as the development of new preservation tools or techniques.

Examples

Pre-production notes; demo recordings; photography; correspondence.

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Fragile or obsolete media for offline content; service provider preservation capability for online content; dependence on proprietary formats or products; lack or loss of documentation; uncertainty over intellectual property rights; lack of version control; lack of policy or mandate.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Replication; clarity of intellectual property rights; preservation agency involved and capable of looking after content.

2023 Review

In 2019, this entry was created as a subset of a previous 2017 entry, ‘Digital Music Production and Sharing,’ which was split into to draw attention to the different challenges faced by the different forms. Although it overlaps with other entries, including ‘Pre-production TV and Movie materials,’ it is a separate entry to emphasize the value of the archival materials relating to the recording process over and above the recordings themselves.

The 2021 Jury agreed with the entry’s assigned risk classification with no noted changes towards increased or reduced 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 Critically Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend), though they noted that action needed to be taken more imminently.

Additional Comments

For the imminence of action, it will all depend on the format of the records. Correspondence or photographs may be left for longer, but recordings will need closer attention, especially if it is a bespoke recording format.

This may be less of a digital preservation challenge and more of an archive or collecting challenge. This type of material in the past, like most 'unpublished' archives, has survived through luck and is largely out of a GLAM or institution’s control relying on individuals to assess and evaluate if what they have is of significance. When these types of things come to an institution, based on significance on a case-by-case basis, are these digital objects then considered 'worth' the effort to a) bring into the collection and b) care and preserve them? So yes, while Critically Endangered, these types of collections are enormous and quite often not things one would want to keep for the long term; however, sometimes there is the odd gem.

There is the recognized inevitable loss of existing data but reducing this loss would require major effort to fix in terms of identifying organizations who are preserving this content, and it is not clear that this is being done already.

Digital content and communications generated for personal consumption in a domestic setting. These records are highly valuable to family members and those interested in genealogy. They can also have wider historical/research significance to collecting institutions.

Digital Species: Personal Archives

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2017

Previously: Critically Endangered

Imminence of Action

Action is recommended within five years, detailed assessment within three years.

Significance of Loss

The loss of data, tools or services within this group would have a localized impact.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost.

Examples

Childhood photographs and videos; School or graduation photos; wedding photos and movies; electronic correspondence (email, messenger, WhatsApp).

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Storage on portable media or poor storage; dependence on devices or processes; dependence on obsolete or proprietary formats; storage media out of warranty; single copies; inappropriate dependence on service provider; inappropriate encryption or password protection; lack of awareness or planning; loss or lack of documentation; over-abundance; inability to act in a timely manner; confusion over intellectual property; lack of digital literacy.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Replication; action in a timely manner; open formats; selection and appraisal; archival agency; education of digital preservation.

2023 Review

This was introduced to the Bit List in 2017. Although research and advice on the preservation of personal records have been available for some time, outreach and training have not reached the audience, and there has been no material improvement in the risks faced by this category since 2017. It is reasonable to assume that the number of digital objects in this category has increased; thus, the consequences of loss have expanded but the 2021 Jury determined there had been no significant trend towards greater risk; content is being lost all the time despite digital materials that can easily be preserved with tools not widely available outside of institutions. Therefore, this is a public awareness campaign issue and more tools need to be made easily available for people to be able to better preserve their own digital content.

The 2023 Council agreed with the Critically Endangered classification but noted that the definition for this entry did not mention the potential wider historical/research significance of some personal archives to collecting institutions and recommended rescoping the entry to make this clearer.

Additional Comments

Personal papers can provide insight into the lived experience of a wider range of people - archives of ‘everyday’ people are invaluable to social historians and personal archives of people with national/international significance complement institutional/public records.

There is a strong overlap with community archives, except noting that responsibility is even more localized. There is room breaking the entry down further into a series of components to represent the complexity more effectively and present a more nuanced action plan.

This matter needs awareness-raising. Education is needed, such as digital preservation as a survival skill for teenagers. Also, simple and cheap tools or pathways to preservation are needed.

Education to the public is critical for advocacy - these are the societal records of the future! Though having said that, what has survived in hardcopy has largely been through luck, and the same thing I think will be the same for digital. The same issues exist with glass plate negatives, photographs and certain emulsions and even printed digital photographs, brittle paper, fading ink etc.

Case Studies or Examples:

• Such materials are increasingly moved into the cloud and the Google Photos case provides a good example. See Monckton, P. (2023), ‘Last Chance To Download Your Photos: Google’s Album Archive Will Be Deleted Tomorrow’, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulmonckton/2023/07/17/google-warning-album-archive-will-be-canceled-in-two-days-download-your-photos-now/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

See also:

• Hill, K. (2022) ‘Your Memories. Their Cloud’. New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/technology/cloud-data-storage-google-apple-meta.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

Materials saved to floppy disks, tape, portable hard disks or other numerous magnetic storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.

Digital Species: Portable Media

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previously: Critically Endangered

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.

Examples

Floppy disks; tape; certain kinds of portable hard disks, zip drives.

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Poor storage; inability to access readers; no replication; encryption; aggressive compression.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Active management; dependable access to readers; strong documentation; documentation independent from the media.

2023 Review

The 2019 Jury introduced this entry to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. Portable magnetic media is ubiquitous but is fragile not just to physical wear and tear but also to magnetic interference and bit-rot. The substrates of the disks can prove unstable, and in some cases, proprietary reader technology means that the disk becomes obsolete before it degrades. Storage at scale also means the percentage likelihood of failure increases. The 2021 Jury agreed with the entry’s assigned risk classification with no noted changes towards increased or reduced risk.

The 2023 Council agreed with the risk classification of Critically Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). Additionally, a new entry “Non-current Rare Portable Magnetic Media” was created as a split, related standalone entry to highlight the increased risk.

Additional Comments

There is no "active management" of data found on these media items. The data should be copied off of the media and into a digital preservation system that allows for active management. Data found on these media should be considered a backup, at best.

We know what to do with this type of material, it is the scale that makes it a problem.

There is really no excuse for using floppy disks for storage these days. Tape is a different proposition since it allows high-density back up offline and nearline. But there are challenges with the backward compatibility of popular and even relatively recent LTO versions.

Case Studies or Examples:

• The Magnetic Tape Alert Project, Information for All Programme (IFAP) of UNESCO, in cooperation with IASA, the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, to alert stakeholders of the imminent threat of losing access to their audiovisual documents. The project included a survey of existing audiovisual documents on magnetic tape not yet digitally preserved. See Pace, A. (2020) ‘Magnetic Tape Alert Project Report’, IASA & UNESCO Information for All Programme. Available at: https://www.iasa-web.org/magnetic-tape-alert-project [accessed 24 October 2023] and UNESCO (2019), ‘The Magnetic Tape Alert Project is a step to save audio-visual archives’. Available at: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/magnetic-tape-alert-project-step-save-audio-visual-archives. [accessed 24 October 2023]

• de Vries, D. (2016,) ‘8″ Disk Recovery: Kryoflux and Catweasel’, OPF Blog. Available at: https://openpreservation.org/blogs/8-disk-recovery-kryoflux-and-catweasel/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The British Library's Flashback Project, a proof-of-concept that explored the practical challenges of preserving digital content stored on physical media (magnetic and optical disks) using a sample of content from hybrid collection items dating from between 1980 and 2010. See Pennock, M., May, P., Day, M., Davies, K. and Whibley, S. (2016) ‘The Flashback Project: Rescuing disk-based content from the 1980s to the present day’, 11th International Digital Curation Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 22-25 February. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1321630

Materials saved to DVDs, CDs or other optical storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.

Digital Species: Portable Media

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previously: Critically Endangered

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.

Examples

CDs, laserdisc technologies, DVD, HDVD

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Poor storage; inability to access readers; no replication; encryption.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Active management; dependable access to readers; strong documentation; documentation independent from the media.

2023 Review

This entry was added in 2019 to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. Optical media is in some senses a preferred option as it is typically more stable than magnetic or solid state media: but these characteristics have been oversold. The substrates of the disks can prove unstable, and more importantly, the reader technology tends to be proprietary and can become obsolete long before the disks degrade. Storage at scale also means the percentage likelihood of failure increases. The 2021 Jury agreed with the entry’s assigned risk classification with no noted changes towards increased or reduced risk.

The 2023 Council agreed with the risk classification of Critically Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend).

Additional Comments

We know what to do; it is the scale of the problem. It is a big scale problem - and in many library catalogues the information about these carriers and their playing requirements do not exist in metadata. Big scale surveys of collections to identify these carriers might be a barrier to starting to tackle this one.

Optical media is less and less recoverable as time goes on. The data cannot be actively managed, the readers are starting to go out of style, and the carriers will continue to rapidly degrade. Early generations of this media are not as robust as the current generation and can deteriorate significantly if not stored appropriately. Many optical media that were created by individuals using consumer-grade hardware and software are more vulnerable than media created using commercial-grade production techniques, and often user error makes the data unreadable before bitrot and other degradation is able to begin. The presence of adhesive labels can be a big warning sign of this type of vulnerability.

Case Studies or Examples:

• The British Library's Flashback project, a proof-of-concept that explored the practical challenges of preserving digital content stored on physical media (magnetic and optical disks) using a sample of content from hybrid collection items dating from between 1980 and 2010. See Pennock, M., May, P., Day, M., Davies, K. and Whibley, S. (2016) ‘The Flashback Project: Rescuing disk-based content from the 1980s to the present day’, 11th International Digital Curation Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 22-25 February. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1321630

• The Library of Congress’s CD-R and DVD-R RW Longevity Research project page provides summarized outcomes and findings from several different complementary studies undertaken or are continuing. Library of Congress (n.d.) ‘CD-R and DVD-R RW Longevity Research’. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/scientists/projects/cd-r_dvd-r_rw_longevity.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Preserving Write-Once DVDs: Producing Disc Images, Extracting Content, and Addressing Flaws and Errors analytic report by George Blood Audio Video Film (GBAVF) in which, The report was one product of a contract with the company, in which they converted a set of write-once DVDs for the Library of Congress. The report describes the issues encountered and provides some detail about methods for carrying out the work,, offering an overview of the range and extent of the issues, as well as describing the corrective tools and processes that were used. See George Blood Audio Video Film. (2014) ‘Preserving Write-Once DVDs: Producing Disc Images, Extracting Content, and Addressing Flaws and Errors, Final Draft Report’. Available at https://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/audio-visual/documents/Preserve_DVDs_BloodReport_20140901.pdf [accessed 24 October 2023]

See also:

• O’Leary, K. (2021) ‘Planning ahead for DVD-Video migration research’, Digital Preservation Coalition Blog. Available at: https://www.dpconline.org/blog/wdpd/wdpd2019-dvd-video-migration-research. [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Iraci, J. (2019) ‘Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes, 19/1’. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/conservation-preservation-publications/canadian-conservation-institute-notes/longevity-recordable-cds-dvds.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Baker, M. (2017) ‘Disks back from the dead’, Nature, 545, p.117–118. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/545117a.

• Kirn, P. (2017) ‘The first generation of CDs is already rotting and dying’, CDM Stories. Available at https://cdm.link/2017/02/a-generation-of-cds-is-already-rotting-and-dying/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

Materials saved to flash or other solid-state storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.

Digital Species: Portable Media

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previously: Critically Endangered

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.

Examples

USB sticks and pen drives; Flash storage in cameras and phones; certain types of portable hard disk

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Poor physical storage; inability to access readers; no replication; encryption.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Active management; dependable access to readers; strong documentation; documentation independent from the media.

2023 Review

This entry was added in 2019 to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. Solid state media – typically flash – provides very fast access to data but can fail without warning. This is because it is typically subject to a limited number of program/erase cycles, as well as ‘read/disturb’ effects. Storage at scale also means the percentage likelihood of failure increases. The 2021 Jury agreed with the entry’s assigned risk classification with no noted changes towards increased or reduced risk.

The 2023 Council agreed with the continued risk classification of Critically Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). They noted that many libraries, archives and other organizations are using these media as the access copy as well as the preservation copy. The data can be overwritten or lost by mishandling as well as bitrot and degradation. Data should be transferred into a digital preservation system that allows for active management.

Additional Comments

An additional preservation risk here is that many libraries/archives use this media as the access copy as well as the preservation copy, thus increasing the risk of the data being overwritten, lost by mishandling as well as general bitrot and degradation. To decrease the risk, data should be transferred into a digital preservation system that allows for active management.

Early generations of media and cheap giveaways are not robust and can deteriorate significantly over time.

This entry is focused on games that can be played offline, often those designed for single player play while in offline mode. This does not exclude games that can be played online or have online interactive components (e.g., Sims 3 can be played online or offline), but rather the focus is on the preservation of offline single player components over the online components.

Digital Species: Gaming

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

(rescoped 2023)

Previously: Critically Endangered

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 a large group of people and sectors.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, including the development of new preservation tools or techniques.

Examples

Sims 3, Planescape: Torment, Hades, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Complex hardware dependencies or bespoke hardware; dependence on obsolete, low usage operating systems with no emulation pathway; complex intellectual property rights; use of older magnetic media; loss of underlying code or gaming engine; limited or no commercial interest.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Emulation pathway; source code; trusted repository; large user community; IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation.

2023 Review

This entry, alongside the Games with Online Play Components entry, was created from rescoping the previous Old or Non-current Video Games entry as part of the 2023 Bit List review. It was rescoped to highlight the differences in preserving offline components as opposed to online components in video games, specifically a lack of dependence on servers.

Additional Comments

Whilst this has the same risk classification as the Games with Online Play Components entry, the risk could be considered to be slightly lesser due to the lack of reliance on servers as well as examples of games having their online services shut down but players still being able to access the offline game modes/features, such as the case with Nintendo discontinuing online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software in early April 2024 where they explicitly state that “Players will still be able to use features and game modes that do not require online communication”.

This entry is also interlinked with the entries covering games played on different hardware (Console games, PC games and smartphone games entries) as the risks can change based on this.

Case Studies or Examples:

• Nintendo (2023) ‘Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Software’. Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-3DS-2DS/Connecting-to-the-Internet/Announcement-of-Discontinuation-of-Online-Services-for-Nintendo-3DS-and-Wii-U-Software-2455285.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

See also:

• ACMI (2022), ‘Australian cultural institutions unite to collect videogames’. Available at: https://www.acmi.net.au/about/media/media-releases/australian-cultural-institutions-unite-to-collect-videogames/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Videogame Heritage Society, led by the National Videogame Museum, founded in 2022 to bring together organizations and collectors working with videogames. It provides advocacy, expertise, and support in collecting, preserving and displaying video games. See National Video Museum (2020) ‘Videogame Heritage Society’. Available at: https://thenvm.org/about/vhs/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Video Game History Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and teaching the history of video games. See Video Game History Foundation (n.d.), ‘Mission’. Available at: https://gamehistory.org/our-mission/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The British Film Institute's “Embracing a wider screen culture” strategy notes the cultural significance of video games and states that they intend to embark on sector research, engagement and knowledge exchange (including on the preservation of video games and digital media). See BFI (n.d.) ‘Embracing a wider screen culture’. Available at: https://blog.bfi.org.uk/long-read/our-ambitions/embracing-a-wider-screen-culture/ [accessed 24 October 2023].

Applications created for smartphones. Many are deprecated quickly but others survive through multiple update cycles. It is hard to maintain version control and is often dependent upon the company that publishes them. There is no clear agency or mandate to record or collect.

Digital Species: Apps

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2017

Previously: Critically Endangered

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 or services within this group would have a global impact.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

Loss seems inevitable: loss has already occurred or is expected to occur before tools or techniques develop.

Examples

London 2012 app; BBC Olympic app; apps published for Apple iOS 10 or earlier; apps for less-common operating systems such as Palm OS, Symbian, Blackberry OS.

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Device dependence; poor documentation; uncertainty over IPR; short-term contracts; lack of skills, commitment or policy from corporate owners; rapid churn of OS; shifting business requirements of app resellers; dependence on exotic or obsolete formats or OS processes.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Strong documentation; version control for code and compiled app; emulation enabled; designated repository taking preservation responsibility and capacity to deliver.

2023 Review

This entry was added in 2017 to draw attention to the challenges of software preservation and the extraordinary velocity of the market for apps. Given the speed of change, it is hard to see how digital preservation efforts can keep pace. The 2019 Jury noted that splitting this entry into different groups based on the platform would clarify differences, although the risks would be largely the same.

The 2021 Jury discussed this further in light of the new 2021 ‘Smartphone Gaming’ entry, which can be considered a subset of this category as well as Gaming in which it is currently assigned. The 2021 Jury found no identifiable trend towards greater or reduced risk but discussed the impact of loss; some loss seems inevitable due to the changes that have taken place in mobile ecosystems over the past 15 years. The 2022 Taskforce noted no change to trend (they agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before with no significant increase or decrease over the preceding year).

The 2023 Council agreed with the Critically Endangered classification with no change to trend but also recommended a change to significance of loss; the significance of loss was increased from the previous year’s reviews, suggesting that the loss of tools or services within this group could have a larger global impact. Obsolescence plays a large part; the rate of change of smart operating systems is high as are the number of apps, which means the obsolescence rate is high and furthermore a large number of vendors are also leaving the market which means their specific apps will also vanish. While the Council agreed the entry description should be updated to reflect these areas of discussion, overall risks remain and continue on the same basis as before (no change to trend).

Additional Comments

Members of the 2023 Council additionally noted that it may be better to have a broader smart device apps entry rather than specifically Smartphone Apps and Smart TV Apps as separate standalone entries. The risks posed by these apps can apply to a variety of devices; for example, before Smartphones there were PDAs, and there are now Smart fridges, set-top-boxes, fire sticks, e-book readers, and other devices which have apps. For this reason, they recommend that the next major review for the Bit List includes a rescoping of Smartphone Apps and Smart TV Apps to consider: What differentiates these apps from others? What cultural heritage purpose do these apps serve? Are organizations collecting them? Are there distinct aggravating factors or risk profiles?

Old versions of apps are completely lost to most users: once you upgrade an app, you typically cannot go back. Perhaps iOS is more critical - at least with Android, you can often get .apk from the internet separate from the marketplace. The NSRL contains hundreds of thousands of mobile applications which are not being actively preserved but could be if a mandate existed. An extension to Legal Deposit might be possible.

The faster we act, the less we will lose. It is unlikely that there will ever be one agent with a mandate to collect different apps available in different countries, so a network of national organizations would be needed. The companies that create these apps are the key to the licensing challenges, and conversation with them is necessary, though it would need to happen immediately in order to negotiate the right to preserve/escrow both apps, operating systems, documentation, and phone development emulators.

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram have had an increased media presence in the last couple of years due to their role in a number of politics-related issues that have arisen, such as concerns about UK Cabinet Ministers using the auto-delete function which could compromise accountability and transparency of the UK government. Telegram has also gained importance due to its use in the Russia-Ukraine war for sharing news.

Case Studies or Examples:

• The Emerging Formats project from the British Library (working with the UK legal deposit libraries) is focused on the collection of three format types: eBook mobile apps, web-based interactive narratives and structured data. See British Library (2022), ‘Emerging formats’. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/projects/emerging-formats. [accessed 24 October 2023].

• The enhanced curation method is detailed in Smith Nicholls, F. (2023) ‘Collecting complex digital publications: testing an enhanced curation method’, British Library Research Repository. Available at: https://doi.org/10.23636/kff3-jv09.

• EaaSI Software Development: Considerations, Priorities, and Commitments has “mobile device emulation” to enable the preservation and reuse of mobile apps and data created and used on Android device as one of its development deliverables. Rechert, K., Gates, E., Cochrane and E., Anderson, S. (2021) ‘EaaSI Software Development: Considerations, Priorities, and Commitments’, Software Preservation Network. Available at: https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/eaasi-software-development-considerations-priorities-and-commitments/ [accessed 24 October 2023].

See also:

• Van der Knijff, J. (2021) ‘Towards a preservation workflow for mobile apps’, BitsGalore. Available at: https://www.bitsgalore.org/2021/02/24/towards-a-preservation-workflow-for-mobile-apps [accessed 24 October 2023].

• Siddique, H. (2021) ‘Cabinet policy obliges ministers to delete instant messages’, The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/12/cabinet-policy-ministers-delete-whatsapp-messages [accessed 24 October 2023].

• Prabhakar, T., & George, D. (2019) ‘Considerations in Archiving Misinformation from Encrypted Messaging Apps’, Tattle. Available at: https://cyber.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2019-12/Tattle_Disinformation_Workshop_revised.pdf[accessed 24 October 2023].

• Allegretti, A. (2023) ‘Experts recover messages from Boris Johnson’s old mobile phone’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/21/boris-johnson-experts-recover-messages-old-phone-covid-inquiry [accessed 24 October 2023].

• Allyn, B. (2022) ‘Telegram is the app of choice in the war in Ukraine despite experts' privacy concerns’, NPR. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/14/1086483703/telegram-ukraine-war-russia [accessed 24 October 2023].

Computer software that is produced for sale or that serves commercial purposes, including previous editions and versions of software that are not available or no longer in use. This entry broadly includes proprietary software, access through licences or subscription business models.

Digital Species: Software

New Entry

Consensus Decision

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

Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost.

Examples

Wordstar, Novell Netware 386, SAP, Oracle, Adobe Photoshop; Microsoft products, such as the Windows Operating System and MS Office, are some of the most well-known examples of commercial software.

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Lack of established frameworks and tools; technology is poorly understood; no emulation pathway; reliance of proprietary software and/or subscription-based business models; limited or no commercial interest; complexities of sector-specific software or data types; lack of technical documentation; complex intellectual property rights; technical protection measures that inhibit preservation actions; encryption.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Effective replication; access to source code; emulation pathway; strong technical documentation; preservation pathway; licensing that enables preservation; use of open formats and open source software; corporate preservation capability; awareness and advocacy work with commercial software providers.

2023 Review

This is a new Bit List entry nominated and approved by the 2023 Council to draw attention to the particular challenges of content and software preservation for commercial software products. The entry focuses on the distinct risks relating to the availability and access to software and code, and lack of preservation interest or mandate, by companies that publish them, creating challenges to preserve digital content and software in source code form. Additionally, the nomination of the entry also highlighted that Software as a whole is not currently on the list (compared to higher level species like Apps). The Council agrees a new higher-level Software digital species group should be created to address this gap and challenges specific to software preservation, while also recognizing there are overlaps with other entries including (but not limited to) Apps, Gaming. Media Art and Research Outputs. While there are overlaps, the Council agreed it would be valuable to separate software to reflect differences in volume of access to software, significance and motivations for preserving commercial software in and across different sectors.

Additional Comments

A large part of this requires advocacy work, and call to action to raise awareness with commercial software providers to preserve their software.

Software preservation raises (often debated) questions about key characteristics for preservation. Wordstar, for example, may be of interest for not only access to the content it facilitates but also for the preservation of the software as mass produced, commercial product. You can also argue in more practical ways that for most files there is usually something about them that you need for the original software for or else the content will be different, and therefore preservation of software is critical regardless of the significance of the software as a product.

Software dependencies on the environment (hardware and software) enable it to run and its associated context and support and in this way some of the approaches can overlap with gaming, but software is not seen as a creative product in the same way. This nomination is more about commercial uses and industrial design objects where games are artworks for entertainment and social/cultural uses.

One might argue the contents of the Museum of Brands and Packaging is not unique and yet it seems unsafe to expect it to necessarily exist elsewhere. The low regard in which commercial software (and this is before we consider bespoke research software) is held - except as a means of accessing more interesting material - seems to suggest that we may in the future look in vain for someone with a copy of even quite widely available software, let alone, say, early UK antivirus products, world leading as they were.

See also:

• The Digital Archiving at the University of York blog series about preserving Wordstar files, which notes and demonstrates how a random copy of WordStar in the archive was able to be used to get a sense of the files in their original context. See Mitcham, J. (2018) ‘Some observations on digital appraisal’, Digital Archiving at the University of York. Available at: https://digital-archiving.blogspot.com/2018/07/some-observations-on-digital-appraisal_20.html [accessed 24 October 2023].

Console games  include all games that were designed to be played on video game consoles, both home consoles and handheld consoles. The three most common consoles manufacturers at this time are Nintendo (Switch), Sony (PlayStation) and Microsoft (Xbox).

Digital Species: Gaming

New Entry

Consensus Decision

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 a large group of people and sectors.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, including the development of new preservation tools or techniques.

Examples

Consoles: SEGA Dreamcast, XBOX 360, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PS Vita, NES

Games: Pokémon, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Red Dead Redemption, Soulcalibur, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Guitar Hero, Bloodborne

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Complex hardware dependencies or bespoke hardware; planned obsolescence; dependency on remote servers that are closed; complex intellectual property rights; use of older magnetic media; free distribution on magazines; loss of underlying code or gaming engine; limited or no commercial interest.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation; source code; emulation pathway; trusted designated repository or community taking preservation responsibility and capable to deliver.

2023 Review

The 2023 Council created two new entries, Console Games and PC Games, to complement the already existing entry of Smartphone Gaming. This was done to highlight the unique preservation issues that exist for each of these categories, such as Console Games being more reliant on peripherals.

Additional Comments

Within the past few years, a number of digital console store fronts have shut down, including the PS3, PSP and PS Vita web and mobile stores as well as the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop which was shut down this year. Alongside this, online services for console games are often shut down on older consoles, such as Nintendo announcing a discontinuation of online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Software in early April 2024.

Every company that releases a console will also release at least one peripheral for that system (the controller), with most releasing a number of extra peripherals, some only suited to one or two games. There are also a number of third-party peripherals available as well. These peripherals provide an added layer of complexity to the preservation of console games.

Security software company Denuvo recently announced that its protection tools are now available to Switch developers which would block unauthorized emulations of those games on PC. Denuvo is a DRM solution that is unpopular with large swaths of the gaming community due to needing a periodic online connection and, given that this protection tool is designed to stop unauthorized PC emulations, there is a risk to ad-hoc and community preservation projects that use emulation to preserve games.

Case Studies or Examples:

• Salvador, P. (2023) ‘Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States’, v1.1. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7996492

• Playstation (n.d.) ‘Discontinued PlayStation apps, features and services’. Available at: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/support/important-notice/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Nintendo (2022) ‘Notice of End of Purchases in Nintendo eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS’. Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Purchasing/Download-games/Nintendo-eShop/Notice-of-End-of-Purchases-in-Nintendo-eShop-for-Wii-U-and-Nintendo-3DS-Update-July-2022-2174073.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Nintendo (2023) ‘Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Software’. Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-3DS-2DS/Connecting-to-the-Internet/Announcement-of-Discontinuation-of-Online-Services-for-Nintendo-3DS-and-Wii-U-Software-2455285.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Emulation General Wiki (n.d.) ‘Preservation projects’. Available at: https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Preservation_projects [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Nintendo Wiki (n.d.) ‘List of Wii accessories’. Available at: https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Wii_accessories [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Scullion, C. (2023) ‘Denuvo security is now on Switch, including new tech to block PC Switch emulation’, Video Games Chronicle. Available at: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/denuvo-security-is-now-on-switch-including-new-tech-to-block-pc-switch-emulation/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

See also:

• The Videogame Heritage Society, led by the National Videogame Museum, founded in 2022 to bring together organizations and collectors working with videogames. It provides advocacy, expertise, and support in collecting, preserving and displaying video games. See National Video Museum (2020) ‘Videogame Heritage Society’. Available at: https://thenvm.org/about/vhs/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Video Game History Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and teaching the history of video games. See Video Game History Foundation (n.d.), ‘Mission’. Available at: https://gamehistory.org/our-mission/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Hidden Palace is a community dedicated to preservation of video game development media which includes prototype and source code. See Scott, J. (2020), ‘The Hidden Palace Prototype Collection’, Internet Archive. Available at: https://archive.org/details/hiddenpalace?tab=collection [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The British Film Institute's “Embracing a wider screen culture” strategy notes the cultural significance of video games and states that they intend to embark on sector research, engagement and knowledge exchange (including on the preservation of video games and digital media). See BFI (n.d.) ‘Embracing a wider screen culture’. Available at: https://blog.bfi.org.uk/long-read/our-ambitions/embracing-a-wider-screen-culture/ [accessed 24 October 2023].

Born-digital or hybrid-digital content that was created and/or commissioned for exhibitions and has not been accessioned into the collection. This species is considered as an object or a 'work' in its own right, and not interpretive materials.

Digital Species: Museum and Gallery, Media Art

New Rescoped Entry

Consensus Decision

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

Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost.

Examples

Digital experiences, immersive works, digital artworks, hybrid-digital artworks, media art, and other born-digital or hybrid-digital objects or materials which can take many forms.

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Lack of technical documentation; complex interdependencies related to specific hardware, software and/or operating systems; significant volumes or diversity of data; dependence on proprietary products or formats; lack of preservation capacity in museum or gallery; technology is seen as inherently fragile and therefore risky to collect and preserve; conflation of access with preservation; lifespan of hardware technologies used in legacy works with few/no replacements and/or alternatives.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Strong technical documentation; preservation capability; preservation pathway; clarity of intellectual property rights that enable preservation; availability of replacement or alternative hardware technologies.

2023 Review

This entry was added in 2019 under ‘Digital Materials in Museums and Galleries’ and previously rescoped in 2021 to ‘Supporting Digital Materials for Museums and Galleries’.

The 2023 Bit List Council superseded the entry, splitting it into six discrete entries as the scope of the single entry was too broad to provide the guidance needed. The recommendation to break this entry down was also made by the 2021 Jury, as the types of digital collections content in museums can be vast and offer particular risks in museum and gallery contexts. This entry draws attention to risks preserving born-digital or hybrid-digital materials, which can take many forms and may be complex digital objects. These works may be commissioned from an external third-party company, or created by staff internal to an organization, often with a considerable amount of financial investment involved. What is particularly critical is that these materials have not been accessioned into an organization's collection. These objects may inhabit exhibition spaces for many years, and while they may be a key component of an organization's business, have not been (and may not be) ever accessioned into the collection.

Additional Comments

Case Studies or Examples:

• The Preserving Immersive Media Knowledge Base is a resource created to help share information between members of the digital preservation community who are caring for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), 360 video, real-time 3D software and other similar materials. This site was born out of Tate's Preserving Immersive Media Project with funding from the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision. See Preserving Immersive Media Knowledge Base (n.d.). Available at: https://pimkb.gitbook.io/pimkb/ [accessed 24 October 2023]

• The Collaborative Infrastructure for sustainable access to digital art LIMA project, to prevent the loss of digital artworks and to commonly develop the knowledge to preserve these works in a sustainable way. The project ‘Infrastructure sustainable accessibility digital art’ invests in research, training, knowledge sharing and conservation to prevent the loss of both digital artworks and the knowledge to preserve them. See LIMA (n.d.) ‘Collaborative infrastructure for sustainable access to digital art’. Available at: https://www.li-ma.nl/lima/article/collaborative-infrastructure-sustainable-access-digital-art [accessed 24 October 2023]

• Richardson, J. (2023) ‘Virtual Reality is a big trend in museums, but what are the best examples of museums using VR?’, Museum Next. Available at: https://www.museumnext.com/article/how-museums-are-using-virtual-reality/ [accessed 24 October 2023].