{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.digital-preservation","code":"thing-q632897","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q632897/","name":"digital preservation","alternateNames":["bit-stream preservation","email archiving","software preservation","video game preservation","UVC-based preservation"],"kind":"thing","status":"research-draft","version":"0.2.0-wave.3","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.PRC"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"The set of activities that keep digital information accessible and usable over time despite obsolescence of hardware, software and formats and decay of media, including bit-stream preservation of the original bytes, migration to new formats, emulation, software and video game preservation, email archiving and approaches such as the Universal Virtual Computer; digital preservation is practised by libraries, archives, museums and data centres under standards such as OAIS and is essential for research, records and cultural heritage.","purpose":"Let an agent explain digital preservation and its strategies, relay standards, tools and institutional practice, describe challenges such as format obsolescence and legal limits, and distinguish preservation from backup and from digitisation.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Long time horizon","Obsolescence management","Authenticity and integrity","Standards-based repositories"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"understand","name":"Understand","description":"What digital preservation is.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition and strategies.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What is digital preservation, and what strategies such as migration and emulation exist?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the question about preservation, backup or digitisation?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"challenges","name":"Challenges","description":"Challenges.","findings":[{"id":"challenges-finding","name":"Challenges","description":"Challenges.","questions":[{"text":"What threats do obsolescence, decay and dependencies pose to digital objects?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific threat?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"practice","name":"Practice","description":"Standards and practice.","layers":[{"id":"standards","name":"Standards","description":"Standards.","findings":[{"id":"standards-finding","name":"Standards","description":"Standards.","questions":[{"text":"What do OAIS, trustworthy repository standards and preservation planning frameworks specify?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"institutions","name":"Institutions","description":"Institutional practice.","findings":[{"id":"institutions-finding","name":"Institutions","description":"Institutions.","questions":[{"text":"How do libraries, archives and data centres run preservation programmes and tools?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific institution or tool?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"domains","name":"Domains","description":"Domains.","layers":[{"id":"software","name":"Software","description":"Software and games.","findings":[{"id":"software-finding","name":"Software","description":"Software.","questions":[{"text":"How are software and video games preserved, and what legal issues arise, with positions attributed?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Is the presentation neutral on copyright debates?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"records","name":"Records","description":"Email, web and research data.","findings":[{"id":"records-finding","name":"Records","description":"Records.","questions":[{"text":"How are email, websites and research data preserved?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"History and personal.","layers":[{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History.","findings":[{"id":"history-finding","name":"History","description":"History.","questions":[{"text":"How did digital preservation emerge as a field, including the UVC and early programmes?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits the history of archives?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"personal","name":"Personal","description":"Personal archiving.","findings":[{"id":"personal-finding","name":"Personal","description":"Personal.","questions":[{"text":"What practices help individuals preserve their own digital material?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits personal digital archiving?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Check fixity, formats and metadata of collections it is authorized to preserve.","Migrate or emulate material following the repository's documented policy."],"mustNot":["Delete an original bit stream after a migration without the repository's policy allowing it.","Normalise or migrate files in a way that silently loses content or provenance.","Make restricted or embargoed material publicly accessible.","Strip rights and provenance metadata to simplify storage."],"requiresHuman":["Deaccessioning or deleting any preserved material.","Opening access to material under embargo or personal data restrictions."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Digital heritage is lost quietly, and losses are usually irreversible.","Archives hold personal records whose subjects did not choose publication."],"affectedParties":["Future researchers","People whose records are held","Depositors and creators"]},"owners":{"steward":"The repository or archive that holds the material.","roles":[],"masterSystems":["Archival catalogues and preservation registries"]},"relations":[{"target":"Q123751128","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"Q123819222","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"Q48797981","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"data preservation","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"storing","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"gathering","type":"related","note":"in registry terms, in its collecting aspect"},{"target":"OAIS reference model","type":"related","note":"ISO 14721"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.digital-preservation","Wikidata: Q632897 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q632897)","ISO 14721: OAIS reference model","ISO 16363: trustworthy repositories audit standard"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Long-term access to digital information","Bit preservation, migration, emulation, software and game preservation","Backup protects against loss short term; digitisation converts analogue to digital","Not a visible object; repositories, checksums, format registries and emulators."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain strategies and standards","relay institutional practice","describe challenges","distinguish from backup and digitisation"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Format and media obsolescence","Bit rot and silent corruption","Legal barriers to preserving software and games","Confusing preservation with backup"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["OAIS and trustworthy repository standards","Legal deposit laws for digital publications","Copyright exceptions for preservation","Records management laws"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Keeping digital information usable over time.","bit-stream preservation and fixity","format migration","emulation and virtual machines such as the UVC approach","software and video game preservation","web and email archiving","research data preservation","personal digital archiving"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q632897: digital preservation","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q632897","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Digital preservation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_preservation","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should software preservation and web archiving be separate entries?","How should standards be linked?","The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific techniques and domains; should they be split off?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q632897/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q632897/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-13T01:10:31Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}