Everyone's A Mechanic: Building a Simple E-

records workflow

Brad HoustonUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

April 20, 2013

Are e-records worth it?

Well, *I* think so... Improved access to content

More information about context

Increased manipulability for research analysis

BUT... Sheer volume increases opacity

Digital preservation and "dark ages"

Time and Money for new systems (?)

Where would we like to be with E-records?

Source: JohnVW on Flickr

Where are we right now?

Source: an0nym0n0us on Flickr

The Mechanic Metaphor

Borrowed from a Helen Tibbo talk at Purdue University, September 2012

“In the early days of the automobile, everyone was a mechanic.”

The scary implication: You have to know enough about your process to fix thingsThe exciting implication: You can make it as simple or as complex as you need

What's standing in our way?

Uncertainty re: appropriate procedures Unfamiliarity with e-records tools and systems Unfamiliarity with e-records as a medium Perceived complexity of metadata and/or preservation requirements/systems

The common thread: letting the perfect be the enemy of the good!

Dirty Little Secret about e-records:

You already know how to do this! Accessioning: gain intellectual/physical

control, identify potential problems Arrangement: Put files in series/other logical

order Description: Provide access at various levels

of the collection Preservation: Ensure the ongoing

integrity/usability of the materials

The Local Catalyst/Example Office of the Chancellor

Records from personal and office computers Various file types and formats Some pre-appraisal by office staff and archivists Large volume of files– automation a must

The desired end product: an AIP! Short-Term: Provide basic description and

preservation metadata Long-Term: Prepare for ingest into future repository

The following worked for us, but… The tools that work for us may not be the best for *your* needs!

Take stock of your own e-records holdings Browse tool catalogs/reviews and experiment Document what you did to your files and why

The “Chewing Gum/Baling Wire” approach Different tools gather complementary data

…But check outputs for redundancies One tool’s failure won’t bring down the whole

thing (probably)

Accessioning and Pre-appraisalGoals: Establish authenticity, perform collection overview and QCDuke Data Accessioner

Quick and easy checksum generation Basic technical metadata for PREMIS—XML

format DROID and/or JHOVE

File Format Identification and validation DROID reporting gives overview of collection Initial triaging for preservation?

The Working Copy Watershed

From this step on, minimize changes to your originals:

Create a working copy for weeding/ arrangement

Write-protect originals!

Creating a disk image (*.iso, *.uif, etc.) may be helpful for preserving fixity here

See also digital forensics tools for increased authenticity

Appraisal and Arrangement Goals: Move files to reflect logical order, identify/restrict confidential infoFreeCommander (and family)

Two-pane browsing– easy arrangement integrated viewer for quick appraisal

Firefly SSN Finder Identifies Social security, credit card #s, other

sensitive info Supplements, not replaces, manual inspection

Description: File LevelGoals: extract technical/descriptive metadata automatically; improve discovery EXIFTool

Pulls embedded metadata from files (esp. photos) Exports data into CSV for tabular description

ReNamer Standardize file names, strip special characters Option to add embedded metadata to filenames

n.b. Automation is especially key for this step. (Think MPLP!)

File-Level Description Table

Description: Collection LevelGoals: discovery of collection as a whole No special tools necessary- Describe as you would paper records! That said, a few EAD considerations...

<phystech> should include hardware, OS, and software needed to render all formats

Describe at series/folder, not file, level Consider IP and/or confidentiality issues if including

digital object links

Preservation Goal: Avoid obsolescence and/or technology failureDigital Preservation Software Platform

Normalizes files to preservation formats Logs every preservation action taken

n.b. Use this *in addition* to other metadata gathered.

File Storage Location Use stable media or network storage (backed

up) -- i.e. *not* CDs, floppies, etc. Best practice: 2 onsite copies, 1 offsite copy

XENA AIP Example

Putting it all together Determine needed metadata for

preservation/access Delete extraneous output

Collocate if you can (XSLT, etc.); document what's where if you can't

Provide access to as much or as little metadata as you need

Keep the originals for authenticity Access copies for everyday usage

Click to edit the outline text format

Second Outline Level

Third Outline Level

Fourth Outline Level

Fifth Outline Level

Sixth Outline Level

Seventh Outline Level

Eighth Outline Level

Ninth Outline LevelClick to edit Master text styles

Second level

○ Third levelFourth level

- Fifth level

And don’t forget…

Digital preservation, like car maintenance, is an ongoing process.

Know your collections

Have a monitoring plan

Keep up with best practices, discussions

Don't give up! Anything you can do is helpful.

I hated this car… but it got me to my destination. (Most of the time.)

Resources AIMS white paper on Born-Digital

Recordshttp://www.digitalcurationservices.org/aims/white-paper/

Digital Curation Centre (UK)http://digitalcurationexchange.org/

The Signal: LOC Digital Preservation bloghttp://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/

Digital Curation Exchangehttp://digitalcurationexchange.org/

Practical E-recordshttp://e-records.chrisprom.com/

Digital Curation Google Group https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/digital-curation

Thank You

Brad Houston

University Records Archivist

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives Dept.

houstobn@uwm.edu

This presentation available for download at:

https://www.box.com/s/vx22f1jus8821d20zy5t