The document discusses the AIMS Project, which aims to create a model for managing born-digital archives across several institutions. It faces challenges related to software and hardware obsolescence and the scale of processing large volumes of digital files. The project uses collaborative tools like Google Docs and Skype to facilitate trans-Atlantic working between four partner institutions managing different aspects of the project remotely. Effective collaboration is needed to address the fundamental changes in the nature of archives as more material is created and collected in digital formats.

1. Managing born-digital archives:& collaborative trans-Atlantic working Simon Wilson, Digital Archivist (AIMS Project) Hull History Centre

2. outline Look at AIMS Project - trying to create a model for managing born-digital archives How the project has coped with collaborative working across 3 time zones View looking down one aisle in the History Centre; there are 12km of shelves in total

3. AIMS Project An inter-Institutional Model for Stewardship To process born-digital collections To use Hydra, a Fedora repository-based solution To disseminate the results & lessons learnt Identify commonality across 4 partners - not to create a single path

4. manuscripts The message and the medium are inseparable Preserve the medium & message remains legible The items are usually unique and irreplaceable and held by us because they are historical Detail from Letters Patent exempting St Andrew Priory from Dissolution, 9 Sep 1536 (U DDCA2/29/119)

5. born-digital files The message and the medium are different Both are threatened by obsolescence The files are usually copies with the creator keeping the originals which may still be in use A 2GB pen drive is capable of holding more than 900 photographs

6. our starting point Fedora repository was already installed and being used at the University Archives had a few born-digital items - but these were not in Fedora Some partners already had TB of born-digital material in their repository Screenshot of University Repository

7. challenges faced Software – new versions every 12-18 months Each new version brings new headaches aboutbackward compatibility Don’t want to become a museum with hundreds of old software titles Look to convert material to suitable open formats Screenshot of WordPerfect 5.1 (for DOS) released in 1989 from http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&p=189225

8. challenges faced Hardware - series of steps, eg portable media 1978 - 5¼ disk1987 - 3½ floppy disk1994 - Zip drive 2000 - USB drive Don’t want to become a museum of hardware – do need to read some formats – eg floppy disks IBM 5150 PC, introduced in Aug 1981, purchase price $1565 excluding disk drives

9. challenges faced Professional – how do we preserve, convertcatalogue and describe this material? We now have over 30,000 born-digital files – from just 3 deposits Expect to have over 1m files within 5 years and a cataloguing backlog measured in TB

10. depositors Every outline, script and novel draft has flown back and forth without ever existing as hard copy until (in the case of the scripts) printed and handed to the actors. The relationship is more critical than with paper archives – need to ask questions we haven’t asked before Stephen Gallagher

11. hybrid collections Paper and born digital material - catalogue based on content not formatPaper archives offer a sense of discoveryNotebooks - snippets of dialogue etc for different work all intermingled With born-digital material information is dispersed between multiple files Acc 2008 box 15, Chimera file 2 and an Amstrad disc

13. the Y2K problem

14. Social Media is the biggest challenge yet4.3m photos added @ 1bn bits content added 250bn emails sent every day

15. what have we lost? Open Planets Foundation estimate there is 100GB data for each individual on the planet and that the rate of data creation doubles every 18 months Archive services: Some are collecting Some are managing Some aren’t doing either How much information has already been lost? http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-04-09/

16. discovery & access Every 2 days.... we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003 Eric Schmidt, Google CEO (Aug 2010) If...we manage to preserve the born-digital archives How do we allow users to discover and access all of this material Can’t “keep everything” and hope that Google will create an algorithm to enable meaningful access

17. collaborative trans-Atlantic working

18. collaborative working Four partners in four institutions in four very distinct locations Range of experiences (including none) ensure that project tools and guidelines are relevant and appropriate for novices and experts alike Needed to find ways to work together http://nerdapproved.com/misc-gadgets/watch-time-fly-by-with-the-world-clock/

19. collaborative tools Collab site is a secure space (at Uva), useful for reference documents but not collaborative working Google docs enables multiple editors to work on the same document – add comments, seek clarification etc from any location UVaCollab screenshot and Google docs logo

20. virtual team Skype - easy to use, shows importance of actual (rather than email) conversations also builds sense of team Kept to 1 hr duration to keep focus Jira/Duraspace - digital archivists write tickets for the development work Introduction to this process was done face to face Skype screenshot and Duraspace logo (https://jira.duraspace.org/secure/Dashboard.jspa)

21. conclusions The nature (and format) of archives is undergoing a fundamental change on our watch We need to act now to collect born-digital archives before it is too late There are useful tools and free software that support collaborative working Two banks of servers at Facebook by Darren Mckeeman http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjcrowley/2419036573/in/photostream/

22. contact ... Simon Wilson Digital Archivist Hull History Centre Tel 01482 317506 s.wilson@hull.ac.uk http://born-digital-archives.blogspot.com Portrait of Claude-Henri Watalet blogging, after Jean-Baptiste Greuzehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/2497196140/in/photostream/