Term Paper on "Con Approach Migration Is a Better Preservation Approach Than Emulation"

Term Paper 4 pages (1275 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Migration Is a Better Preservation Approach Than Emulation

Digital preservation has as its goal ensuring that a digital collection does not lose its usability no matter what the technological changes occur in the future. Preservation methods that are not appropriate result in the digital collection becoming inaccessible and within only a few years rendering it useless. Digital data is under a continuous threat in that not only the data file type utilized but the media that the data is preserved on including hardware and software systems are all sources of vulnerability. Organizational management as well as the culture of an organization including financial limitations and priority on spending can result in digital collections being threatened. The largest threat according to one author is that of "technical obsolescence." (JISC Digital Media, 2013, p.1)

Approaches to Preservation

There are several approaches to preservation including: (1) migration; (2) refreshment; and (3) emulation. (JISC Digital Media, 2013, p.1) Migration is a process of duplicating content from one specific format to a newer format. For example copying content from a CD-ROM to a solid-state flash drive. (JISC Digital Media, 2013, p.1, paraphrased) Refreshment is a process of copying data on the same type of format but one that is updated or newer. Finally, emulation is a process that is more complex and involves access of data on a system other than the system the data was designed to use. This generally occurs when the original system is no longer available.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Migration

Migration has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of migration is that the strategy is broadly used and the procedures to conduct simple migration are established. Migration is a reliable method for "preserving the intellectual content of digital objects and is particularly suited to page-based documents." (Dressler, 2010, p.1) Migration is enabled through readily available conversion software. (Dressler, 2010, paraphrased) the disadvantages of migration include that migration makes a requirement of the commitment of a great deal of resources both at the start of migration and across time. Migration when done at the pint of obsolescence is reported as "labor intensive" although migration is such that can "be automated, because formats evolve so rapidly; as collections grow, the work involved in migration also increases." (Dressler, 2010, p.1) the migration on request is an approach that can be used for mitigation of the complexity because migration is not actually conducted in digital objects and standardization of formats enables batch migration to be more easily performed. Another drawback of migration is that some of the data or attributes such as formatting may be lost during the process of migration and the record's authenticity may possibly be compromised. Loss of functionality is reported as a significant possibility in the process of migration especially with digital objects of a complex nature. Migration makes the assumption that "content is more important that functionality or look and feel." (Dressler, 2010, p.1)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Emulation

Emulation is held as superior to migration in that current means are used to "mimic the environment of the original rendering of a digital object by emulating software applications, operating system, and hardware." (Dressler, 2010, p.1) Emulation is reported as a superior method for digital objects that are complex with examples stated being that of "websites or data sets." (Dressler, 2010, p.1) the original experience can be reflected more meaningfully through execution speed, display resolution, color, and any input devices like a keyboard or mouse can be moderated to reflect original experience in a more meaningful way." (Dressler, 2010, p.1)

The difference between emulation and migration is that the process of emulation maintains the original software and hardware. The advantages of emulation include that emulation enables the recreation of the "full functionality and exact look and feel of a digital object's performance" making emulation an… READ MORE

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