This interim report by the US-UK based Blue Ribbon Task Force describes the set of economic-related factors that play a role in digital preservation. It defines the activities that must be economically sustainable, providing extensive information about economic models and outlines the current landscape. All this is based on literature review and interviews with prominent stakeholders. The report is intended as a basis for a subsequent report that economic models and is defining and developing practical recommendations for specific institutions.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access was created in late 2007, aiming to address the issues of access, preservation, sustainability and costs of digital information in the Information Age. In this age, digital information has revolutionized almost every aspect of our lives, from the way we access or store our favorite music and family photographs, to how our society conducts commerce, research and education. Underlying the potential of the Information Age and its paradigm-shifting access to digital information is the assumption that key information will be there when we want it, where we want it, and for the foreseeable future.
Realizing the potential of the Information Age spawns a series of daunting challenges for the future, how will we ensure the long-term preservation and access to our digital information, growing exponentially with each passing day? How will we successfully migrate data as technology moves from one preservation medium to the next? Who should determine which digital data should be saved, and what criteria will be used to make those decisions?
Perhaps even more challenging is the issue of economic sustainability. What is the cost to preserve valuable data and who will pay for it? Broadly speaking, economic sustainable digital preservation will require new models for channeling resources to preservation activities; efficient organization that will make these efforts affordable; and recognition by key decision-makers for the need to preserve, with appropriate incentives to spur action.