American Scientist could have researched this better (I would have liked to see something from the archival literature), but overviews of this issue for wider audiences are always good.

The general problem of data preservation is twofold. The first matter is preservation of the data itself: The physical media on which data are written must be preserved, and this media must continue to accurately hold the data that are entrusted to it. This problem is the same for analog and digital media, but unless we are careful, digital media can be more fragile.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been working a bit more to evaluate open source packages to implement an open archival information system. The software I’ve looked at is very promising. In particular, RODA will be a very nice package for a lot of archives, assuming you can get local support to install it an manage the installation in a way that file storage and backup is trustworthy. I also like Archivematica a lot.

Omeka is a free and open source collections based web-based publishing platform for scholars, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, educators, and cultural enthusiasts. Its “five-minute setup” makes launching an online exhibition as easy as launching a blog. Omeka is designed with non-IT specialists in mind, allowing users to focus on content and interpretation rather than programming. It brings Web 2.0 technologies and approaches to academic and cultural websites to foster user interaction and participation. It makes top-shelf design easy with a simple and flexible templating system.