The document discusses the advantages and challenges of digital repositories for storing and preserving information. It notes that while digital media is easy to store, copies are less common than assumed due to outdated hardware and formats. This can threaten a "digital dark age" where information is inaccessible. It also addresses issues like private repositories only existing while funded and public research often behind paywalls. Potential solutions proposed include linked open data, blockchain technology, and following FAIR principles to make repositories more open, sustainable, and collaborative.

1. What the future holds: Metadata
and Document Repositories
Open Access: Tackling health inequalities
25 October 2016

2. Information
in Digital Age
Advantages of digital media
Easy to store, 100% lossless preservation, easy to copy
Worldwide access
Realities of digital preservation
Less copies than we think
Deterioration of storage media, outdated hardware to read it (tapes, floppy
disks, CDROM etc)
Legacy formats – old software can’t run on modern PCs
Threat of the Digital Dark Age
Challenges with access to information
Private data repositories exist only as long as funding is provided
Research funded by the public is often available only behind paywalls
Digital divide and barriers to access public interest information
We have solutions to many aspects of information inequality but it requires
everyone to participate and change their data management processes

3. Example: Research Data
80% of researchers will not be able
to provide the data 3 years
after completing the research. *
Prof. Dr. Mark Ferguson,
Science Foundation Ireland
* we believe that is probably a slight understatement

4. Pilot: Open Document
Repository

5. The Future of Document
Repositories
Technology
LOD (Linked Open Data)
IPFS (Inter-Planetary File System)
Blockchain (technology behind Bitcoin)
Benefits
Shared storage model: no single point of failure, data
owned by all parties
Transparency in regards to provenance, modification: not
through trust but as a mathematical proof
Participation and engagement: direct collaboration and
decision-making

6. Your Role
Sustainable data management practices
Open by default
Consistent meta-data
FAIR principles
http://ec.europa.eu/research/press/2016/pdf/opendata-infographic_072016.pdf