This has been a busy year for the Digital Preservation Unit at NARA, full of growth and new opportunities. As 2024 comes to a close, I wanted to share some highlights from the past year. Our team of five, Mackenzie Beasley, Leslie Johnston, Amanda May, Hannah Wang, and myself (Elizabeth England), have recently started working … Continue reading Digital Preservation Year in Review
Happy World Digital Preservation Day! World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD) is held on the first Thursday of every November. It’s a chance to connect and celebrate the people, organizations, and communities that preserve the world’s digital legacy. All day long, there are a number of events taking place across the globe to celebrate digital preservation. … Continue reading NARA Highlights from iPRES 2024
Findings and takeaways from updating the Risk Matrix
Why did we update the Risk Matrix? When I joined NARA in 2023, the Risk Matrix had grown to over 700 file formats over four years. The questions in the Risk Matrix had been applied to a large variety of formats, and it was time to assess it as an instrument for performing these risk assessments.
What has changed and why? The main part of the Framework that has changed is the Risk Matrix; apart from minor maintenance, nothing has changed in the File Format Preservation Action Plans and the Record Category Preservation Action Plans (for an explainer on all of these terms, see my last post).
The NARA Digital Preservation Unit is very excited to announce that the most recent release of the Digital Preservation Framework is now available on GitHub. This release includes a major overhaul of the Risk Matrix, with new and updated questions about how we evaluate risk to file formats, as well as a new report on … Continue reading Digital Preservation Framework Re-Release Part 1: What is the Digital Preservation Framework?
Welcome to the newest blog from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - Fixity Check! Here’s a brief Q&A with more information on the blog. What is this blog about? Did you know NARA has already been receiving and preserving digital records for over 50 years?! As the U.S. federal government transitions toward … Continue reading Welcome to Fixity Check
