Book Review: Preserving Complex Digital Objects

Preserving Complex Digital Objects. Ed. Janet Delve and David Anderson. London: Facet, 2014. 375 p. $115.00 softcover (ISBN: 978-1-85604-958-0).

Digital preservation efforts share many of the goals, ethics, and priorities of analog preservation but incorporate distinctive vocabulary, technology, and methodology.1 “Complex digital objects” are objects defined as simulations and visualizations, gaming environments, and software-based art (xii). By definition, these objects contribute additional layers of complication to preservation. These are the focus of Preserving Complex Digital Objects.

This compendium offers a print record of the papers presented during the POCOS (Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia) project (three symposia held, respectively, in London, Glasgow, and Cardiff in 2011 and 2012) and concludes with “pathfinder solutions” (a summary and analysis of symposia presentations leading up to proposals for future initiatives).

As they note in their introduction, editors Delve and Anderson strive to represent the many stakeholders having an interest in complex digital objects, i.e., game designers, artists, and historians. The multifaceted structure they develop successfully anchors these diverse groups and charts a course for an initial exploration of the advanced digital preservation issues such items pose.

The volume’s forward (by the head of digital scholarship at the British Library, Adam Farquhar), and preface (by the head of resource discovery at JISC (www.jisc.ac.uk), Neil Grindley), offer a rationale for the POCOS project in general and for this publication in particular. These are followed by an annotated list of contributors and a separate glossary of acronyms (helpful to all readers, but especially useful to those beginning to study digital preservation).

The introduction considers the nature and composition of “complex objects” discussed in the forward and the intricate processes their preservation requires. Delve and Anderson use these observations as an armature on which to build the book’s framework of six sections. The first section, “Why and What to Preserve: Creativity versus Preservation,” presents theoretical and historical considerations from the perspectives of game development, archival philosophy, and digital artwork construction. “The Memory Institution/Data Archival Perspective” offers the administrative perspective on complex digital object preservation through two institutional illustrations: the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) and the National Video Game Archives, a museum/library partnership, and concludes with a reflection on the current and future “preservation landscape as it applies to digital objects” (91). The third section, “Digital Preservation Approaches, Practice and Tools,” gives practical solutions to current concerns. It is the largest category, with three subgroups: “A Good Place to Start: Software Preservation,” “Tools and Techniques,” and “Metadata, Para-data and Documentation,” each of which include several related articles. “Case Studies” presents four examples for the reader’s consideration: a “born-digital” project, an interdisciplinary reflection on needing change for growth, a discussion of the effects of archiving software and content in visual film, and a documentation of considering interactive artworks within the context of performance. “A Legal Perspective” identifies several issues involved with copyright and digital preservation, notes lessons learned from legal studies commissioned by the KEEP Project, and provides information-technology-industry observations on information digital security. The final section, titled “Pathfinder Conclusions,” provides the editors’ succinct yet thorough summary of topics addressed, articulates needs from a publisher’s standpoint, and makes recommendations regarding future JISC projects involving complex digital objects.

This structure, with the exception of the catch-all “Case Studies” section, renders the material accessible to newcomers and digital preservation veterans alike, and reflects a thoughtful consideration of the material and of the audience to whom it is being directed. Reformatting a group of presentations from three separate but related symposia offers editors the opportunity to provide readers with previously unavailable information, i.e., author biographies, references and notes, an acronym glossary, and the Pathfinder Solutions. However, it does pose several serious challenges. One potential problem is that publishing presentations from 2011–12 on a topic with rapidly evolving content may not provide up-to-date, useful information. Although recent scholarship investigates new and developing topics regarding the preservation of complex digital objects, the issues presented in this volume represent significant benchmarks in the field’s history.2

Maintaining the visual and auditory effect of the original media can prove difficult. Happily in this case, videos of the presentations are available.3 Access to these videos greatly enriches this volume’s content. Finally, the translation of these lectures into print could have resulted in a mash-up of seemingly unrelated and unrelatable presentations. The editors’ thoughtful, nuanced organization—this volume’s most outstanding feature—easily manages this challenge.

Preserving Complex Digital Objects successfully achieves Grindley’s hoped-for outcomes of providing a context for understanding, managing, and addressing significant issues, as well as promoting further research (xii).—Ann Kearney (akearney@albany.edu), University at Albany, Albany, New York

References

1. “Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice,” American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2014, www.conservation-us.org/about-us/core-documents/code-of-ethics#.VMZt1mMSbFI.
2. See, for example, Jerome McDonough, “Fostering High-Impact Research in the Preservation Field: A Response,” Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture (PDT&C) 43, no. 1–2 (2014): 65–68; Juergen Enge and Tabea Lurk, “Classification and Indexing of Complex Digital Objects with CIDOC CRM,” in Archiving 2014: May 13–16, 2014, Berlin, Germany: final program and proceedings, edited by Christoph Voges, 58–62 (Springfield, VA: Society for Imaging Science and Technology, 2014); Kyle Rimkus et al., “Digital Preservation File Format Policies of ARL Member Libraries: An Analysis.” D-Lib Magazine 20, no. 3 (2014): 2.
3. “Video Documentation and Resources,” Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia, http://vimeo.com/album/1646346.