This is a guest post from Stephen Clarke of Archives New Zealand.
The Digital Continuity Strategy: Consultation Wiki
The shift to digital creation of information in the public sector has created a challenge to managing and accessing public information over time as archives for future generations. We are in danger of creating a digital dark age for our children and grandchildren, a future where our current generation’s culture and heritage simply doesn’t survive us, in the same way we can access our grandparents world through their media output. Digital content cannot be managed for archival purposes in the same way as content created in more traditional ways, if no action is taken public sector digital information will be lost for ever. We need to ensure proactive intervention is taken at a much earlier stage than we needed to do for paper records or magnetic tape, for example, where obsolescence happens at a much slower pace. To address this concern a strategy is being developed so that New Zealand’s public memory can be preserved for many decades or forever where necessary. The Digital Continuity Strategy proposes an all-of-government approach to long-term planning, strategies and systems to ensure the ongoing integrity and accessibility of this information for all New Zealanders now and in the future.
Archives New Zealand has developed a consultation wiki so that the online community can contribute to the public sector digital continuity discussion. The initial site we set up was limited to Government IP addresses which caused some disappointment, so we at Archives NZ decided to host our very own Digital Continuity Strategy Wiki to support dynamic feedback and as an opportunity for anyone who wants to get involved in digital preservation issues to chat and exchange ideas with other contributors.
The lovely shiny, brand-spanking-new wiki can be accessed by anyone at: http://wiki.archives.govt.nz
All you have to do is choose a log in name and password, there are no registration forms, and long-winded e-mail authentication procedures. We look forward to your thoughts and insights.
