Alternative strategies:

Non-digital approaches
Data recovery
Combinations.
17.15 Investment strategies

1. Use of standards
Description:
This strategy involves the use of preferably open, widely available, supported or
agreed standards and file formats, for which there is an increased likelihood of
stability and longer term support. Such standards or formats may either be formally
agreed or may be de facto standard formats that have been widely adopted by
industry. Compliance to standards may also either simplify the application or
maximise the effectiveness of later preservation strategies. This strategy can be
related to No.4 Restricting the range of formats to be managed.

A particular refinement of the standards approach is proposed in conjunction with the

UVC approach (see below at No. 5), as durable encoding (Gladney and Lorie, 2002),
which recommends encoding data to confirm with well-known data processing
standards down to the level of encoding bits as ASCII or Unicode UTF-8, and objects
as XML. For objects that cannot be encoded in this way, programmes that can
interpret them can be so encoded and packaged with them.

Examples:
A majority of digitisation programmes choose TIFF (Tagged Image File
Format) as an open, stable and widely supported standard for creation of
preservation master images, with expectations of the formats longevity
The Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) primarily stores digital
documents in Adobe Portable Document format (PDF) and encapsulates
them in an XML metadata wrapper. PDF was chosen, in part, due to the
public availability of the proprietary standard, from which independent
viewing tools have been constructed.

More information: (all links viewed March 2003)

Gibbs R, Heazlewood J (2000). Electronic Records Problem Solved?: the Victorian Electronic
Records Strategy and the future of electronic record keeping in Victoria. In: Books and Bytes :
Technologies for the Hybrid Library : Proceedings, 10th Biennial Conference and Exhibition, 16-18
February, 2000, Melbourne Convention Centre. Victorian Association for Library Automation, Inc.,
Melbourne, 2000.
Gladney H, Lorie R (2002). Trustworthy 100-Year Digital Objects: Durable Encoding for When Its
Too Late to Ask. Saratoga CA, HMG Consulting, 2002. Available, with later relevant papers, from
HMG Consulting and via Digital Document Quarterly,http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/ddq_1_4.htm
Some available data interchange standards for various areas of activity are listed in:
The Diffuse Project (2002). Diffuse Standards and Specification List. The Diffuse Project Consortium,
2002. http://www.diffuse.org/standards.html

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