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Abstract
Digital preservation management has evolved from an initial emphasis on technological issues to a broader understanding of resourcing and organizational issues. Internationally, the trend has moved to a risk management framework that is common to both digital and physical worlds. There are a number of common 'high level' principles and frameworks that intersect both digital and traditional (physical) preservation, and which in turn provide an opportunity to explore an integrated approach to preserving both digital and physical materials. This paper explores the opportunity for such an integrated approach through the paradigm of an interconnected web.
Keywords: Digital preservation, Preservation, Training, Digital preservation policy, Risk management
1 Introduction: The 'Interconnected Web'
Preservation is about linking the past with the future. I will use an analogy from nature - the web - as a holistic way of better understanding and integrating the preservation of our heritage, both digital and non-digital. This is expressed in a poem titled 'Web' by K S Brown.
WEB
The passing eye of time misses nothing.
Plow still the stars have remained the same,
pathways explored, and many still to come.
The twining threads of a suspended circle of
life,
always as fresh as the morning dew on them,
connect to all things.
They hold the measured collection of all
activity,
recalled, recounted and re-learnt.
The distant times of other galaxies,
of vibrations to come
will visit the cradle of past activity
preserved by the management of collective
knowing,
and add another thread spun,
a wider web, a growing cosmos.
K S Brown, 2012
Robert Penn Warren used the same analogy when he commented, "Every action is like the flick of a spider web. It sends ripples throughout an endlessly woven net of life and time"
(Warren, 1946).
Ancient Indian traditions have always acknowledged this interconnectedness. The Vedas comprising all major branches of knowledge approach knowledge and life as being wholly interconnected. Within this framework, every action can be considered not just in terms of itself, but also in terms of its impact on the greater whole. From this time onwards, India's ancient cultural heritage is extraordinary, and much of this knowledge and heritage is contained within an estimated five million manuscripts held within India and abroad (National Mission for...