Research Paper on:
Digital Data Preservation Challenges

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
system may be easily implemented, it is often obsolete just a few years after initiation. Archivists must be privy to changes in technology inclusive of methodology and hardware innovations. Problems  erupt not so much in the process of digitization, but rather in the preservation of data for the long term. Important decisions must be made as to how long data  should be preserved in the first place. Procedures for short term preservation are much easier to determine. Also, cost factors enter the picture as the process of long term  preservation comes with a rather large price tag. Some of the challenges that erupt in this niche concern both digitization and digital preservation. However, it is important to understand the  difference between the two related concepts. II. Digitization Versus Digital Preservation A strict definition of digitization might be the conversion of analog media to the digital form  (Lee, 2001). The original media or source material might come from printed images or text, but it should not be forgotten that it could also include audio and video materials  (2001). Digitization is the process of converting ordinary things that people take for granted into a digital image which is more substantial and easily preservable. Of course, while the goal  might be to preserve a piece of paper for example, digitization is not concerned with preservation necessarily. Sometimes an item is digitized for aesthetic reasons or for ease of temporary  storage or simply to enhance the ability for people to use the image or information on a computer. Digitization is related to digital imaging and is essentially the creation of  a still digital facsimile of a source item, like a rare manuscript, photograph, or slide and so forth (Lee, 2001). One might use the process simply to protect originals and