Innovative Ideas Forum

National Library of Australia

What is the Mediapedia

Douglas Elford, Digital PreservationDavid Pearson, Digital Preservation

April 10th 2008

Mediapedia

Designed to:

• enable the identification of various media types for assisting with collection planning, assessment, documentation, infrastructure and preservation

• recording business knowledge, from either internal or external communities, about these various media formats to enable to making a risk management evaluation or preservation decision

UsageInternal

• Recording business knowledge• Media identification for the Digital Preservation Workflow Project• Assist in the identification of media for offers and collection assessment • Assist in the identification of media when managing collections and

information technology infrastructure• Assist in the understanding the environment within which to make

preservation assessments• Support the Digital Preservation Plan

External – Regional [future possibilities]• Similar use by cultural institutions and government e.g. MAGDIR,

Collections Council, Collections Australia, Digital Heritage Collections Action Plan Framework, etc.

• Recording business knowledge• Share with others who also have a similar needs

External – International [future possibilities]• Recording business knowledge• Community of shared ‘trusted’ knowledge• Collaboration on conservation options for various media• Collaborative voting system to enable community quantification of risk

management

Classification

In order to cover such a wide range of media type, a systematic approach has been taken to view them a more generic perspective.

Initially they have been categorised by their:• genre or area of use type,

followed by their:• process• carrier• enclosure/housing (optional),• trade name or common name (optional).

Associated information includes:• Intermediate Tool / Access Path / technical requirements• Conservation assessment and community conservation

knowledge• Genre Specific Specifications & Data Sheets

Classification SchemaGenre (Category)

• Recording of the media genre (category)

Data, Microform, Moving Image, Sound, Still Image & Unmediated

Process• Recording of the type of process used

to record informatione.g. magnetic, magnetic/optical, mechanical, optical, paper, photo chemical, photo mechanical, photo digital, solid state, etc.

Carriers• Recording of the type of carrier, and

optionally its enclosure.e.g. disc, disc/disk cartridge, disc pack, etc.

Name• Basic instructions on recording

Common Name of the carrier used to physical media.

Genre

Process

Carrier/Housing+ (Enclosure)

Name

Mediapedia Prototype - Floppy

Form View

Form View - Environmental Specifications

Mediapedia Prototype - Floppy

Mediapedia Prototype - Sound

Form View

Form View - Environmental Specifications

Mediapedia Prototype - Sound

Form View – Materials: Tape Variants

Mediapedia Prototype - Sound

Mediapedia – Other Views

Contact: digitalpres@nla.gov.au[coming soon to a web near you - www.mediapedia.org.au/]

A Digital Preservation SkunkWorks Project

Mediapedia - Search!