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 a more fully digital government, the volume of digital records that NARA accessions, processes, describes, preserves, and provides access to will continue to grow rapidly. Digital preservation is much more than just digitization or storage, and NARA has a long history of practice in the discipline that we want to share more about.
Fixity Check will highlight digital preservation efforts at NARA and offer a glimpse into the broad scope of work that is digital preservation. Some of the types of posts you can expect range from announcing the availability of new or updated work products, discussions of current research projects, and interviews with NARA staff. While some topics may be more technical in nature, not all will be.
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Why the name “Fixity Check”?
A Fixity Check is a method for verifying a digital file has not changed, whether through alteration or corruption. Performing fixity checks over time help ensure the integrity of digital files, a key component of digital preservation. In brainstorming blog names, we wanted something short, catchy, and related to digital preservation. We chose Fixity Check as it checked all the boxes for us!
Who is the intended audience?
We aim for the blog to be of interest to a wide range of readers, including but not limited to: digital preservation community members, archivists, records managers, NARA staff, and curious explorers.
Who is running the blog?
The blog will be managed by Digital Preservation Unit staff, with guest authors from throughout NARA. If you have any questions or feedback, reach out to the Digital Preservation Unit at digital-preservation@nara.gov.
A very interesting blog for me. Looking forward to future posts!