RCAHMW National Monuments RecordDIGITAL ARCHIVE GUIDELINES: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO DIGITAL PRESERVATION

The OAIS Reference Model – Open Archival Information System• SIP – Submission Information Package• AIP – Archive Information Package• DIP – Dissemination Information Package

Digital Archiving Package

Technical Metadata

Preservation Planning

Active Preservation

Automated Preservation Actions

Digital Instance

Archive Catalogue

CofleinDigital Archive Management

The Interface Between Producer and Custodian The key area the RCAHMW Digital Guidelines seek to controlCompliance with OAIS modelAllowing access, supply of data to consumerPreservation planning, active preservation, automated procedures

The Guidelines set out:• A structured approach to organising records

• Mandatory metadata elements

• Preferred formats of digital file

Structure and ContentThe Guidelines supply general principles

• A comprehensive record of work undertaken

• structured to allow the information to be understandable and readily accessible by those unfamiliar with the project

Archives should be:

MetadataThe Guidelines stipulate mandatory elements

Archive information

File information

Technical documentation (where appropriate)

Archive Information Form

File Information Form

Technical Documentation – no formal data elements

Technical documentation is information about items, or groups of items, within the archive which will enable the data to be understood and reused by others.

It is the depositor’s responsibility to ensure that technical documentation is supplied when required to understand and use the data

• Text• Images• CAD• Spreadsheets• Databases• GIS• Geophysics• Video

File Format Additional Documentation (if relevant/available)/Notes

Text

Preferred Adobe Portable Document Format ISO Standard for Archiving

(PDF/A) - .pdf Microsoft Word - .doc

Documents must not be locked to editing or password protected.

HTML, XHTML – include any relevant CSS files

XML – include relevant schema/DTD/XSLT Accepted

Adobe Portable Document Format - .pdf Microsoft Word - .docx

OpenDocument Text - .odt TXT, HTML, XHTML, XML, SGML

Imag

es (s

ee b

elow

fo

r fur

ther

det

ails

)

Preferred Tagged Image File Format (Uncompressed) - .tif Uncompressed .tif files are required as mandatory for any new work. We will only accept .jpg files from historic archives where .tiffs are not available.

Captions must be included for all image files

Images must be at least 1200 pixels along longest edge.

Images must have a resolution of at least 72dpi.

Accepted

Joint Photographic Expert Group - .jpg JPEG2000 - .jp2

Tagged Image File Format (Compressed) - .tif Portable Network Graphics - .png

CA

D (V

ecto

r G

raph

ics)

Preferred Scalable Vector Graphic - .svg

Adobe Illustrator - .ai AutoCAD - .dxf

Relationships to other files Captions must be included for all

graphics files Accepted CorelDraw - .cdr

AutoCAD - .dwg

Spre

adsh

eets

Preferred Comma Separated Value - .csv Excel - .xls

Column/Rows should have clear labels describing their contents

A key should be provided for any codes with the data

Spreadsheets must not be locked to editing or password protected Accepted Microsoft Office - .xlsx

OpenDocument Spreadsheet - .ods

Dat

abas

es

Preferred Microsoft Access - .mdb Delimited Text

A data dictionary should be included where available

For delimited text the delimiters should be listed

Databases must not be locked to editing or password protected

Accepted Microsoft Access - .accdb OpenDocument Database - .odb

GIS

Preferred ESRI Shapefile - .shp, .shx and .dbf ESRI Geodatabase - .xml

Information should be provided on: The purpose of the GIS The function of each layer Coordinate system used Method of capture Data source Scale/resolution Assessment of data quality Date of capture

Accepted Flat file data as Microsoft Excel, Comma Separated Values or

Microsoft Access formats - .xls, .csv or .mdb MapInfo - .mid and .mif

Geo

phys

ics Preferred Raw xyz data: .txt, .csv, .xyz

Rendered Images: .tif

For raw xyz data: Location of the survey Conditions Instrumentation For rendered images: Details of data processing and

interpretation Accepted Rendered Images: .jpg, .png (see above)

Vi

deo Preferred Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2

Shorter clips of submitted video films should also be submitted for dissemination purposes.

Shorter clips should be web optimised where possible. Accepted Mpeg-4

Formats

•Implement at start of project

•Contact us with any queries

•See our website for most up-to-date version

Principles to Keep in Mind

Promulgating the Guidelines

• Mandatory part of planning and development control regime

• Through the National Standards for Wales for Collecting and Depositing Archaeological Archives

• Through training events and promotion

CiFA Wales Group/RCAHMW Training 17th March at RCAHMW, Aberystwyth