<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16608" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>Len, I believe that you are much overestimating how difficult a project would be and/or how many people-hours it would take.  The work needed is in fact far less than most people suppose.  The NSF participates in this misunderstanding.</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>In particular, it is incorrect to believe that "a new type of organization" is required.</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>Nor is it required, in a bid for NSF funding, to address all aspects mentioned in their RFP.  E.g., doing something that works for CHM and making the new software available as open source would be sufficient.</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>I suggest that you read something I've just written (and as much of the cited background as you have time for--which I expect to be very little.)  See Durable Digital Objects Rather than Digital Preservation, posted at <A href="http://eprints.erpanet.org/146/">http://eprints.erpanet.org/146/</A>.  The argument made in this paper is that "the establishment" in digital preservation has adopted a consensus direction that would be not only unnecessarily expensive, but also fundamentally unworkable.  (So-called "Trusted Digital Repositories".)</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>An engineering plan is sketched in Economics and Engineering for Preserving Digital Content posted at <A href="http://eprints.erpanet.org/139/">http://eprints.erpanet.org/139/</A>.</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left>The work I propose would cost CHM nothing except space, until there was enough running to be attractive for CHM as a service, i.e., not for approx. 2 years after the beginning of development.  The work would all be by SPG volunteers.  The IBM 1401 project is a model of what I have in mind. </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV align=left>Cheerio, Henry</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left> <HR tabIndex=-1> From: Len Shustek [mailto:len@shustek.com] Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 3:54 PM To: H.M. Gladney; SCC at CHM Cc: 'Peter Lucas'; thomas.kierluk@sympatico.ca; John/Helen Swinden; peter.farwell@rogers.com; 'Tom Gladney'; mn@rti-hou.com; 'John L. Bennett'; sowa@bestweb.net; Chaim Zins Subject: Re: [SPG_Active_Members] NSF financial support for Sustainable Digital Preservation </DIV> <DIV></DIV>Henry, I've read over the RFP, and it seems to me this is a project far too large and far more general than what CHM should attempt to be the lead institution for.  The scope is long-term digital preservation in general, and it calls for building sustainable infrastructure, not just a prototype.  It asks for the creation of "a new type of organization that we do not believe exists today."   We could not take on something like that. If a potential lead institution sees a role for us as a partner with a more limited role, I'd be interested in having that discussion. -- Len Shustek At 09:26 AM 3/1/2008, H.M. Gladney wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">This note sketches a proposed CHM Software Preservation Group project, for which I solicit your reactions and comments. ============================== The National Science Foundation has opened a Request for Proposals for "Sustainable Digital Data Preservation and Access Network Partners (DataNet)".  The core of the RFP reads: "By demonstrating feasibility, identifying best practices, establishing viable models for long term technical and economic sustainability, and incorporating frontier research, these exemplar organizations can serve as the basis for rational investment in digital preservation and access by diverse sectors of society at the local, regional, national, and international levels, paving the way for a robust and resilient national and global digital data framework." For the full call, see <A href="http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503141">http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503141</A> . ============================== I propose that a small group of Software Preservation Group members organize and execute a bid for funding under this RFP, doing so in the name of the Computer History Museum.  Doing so would be entirely within the purposes and capabilities of CHM, at least to the extent that I understand the CHM mission. A preliminary and very rough notion of the work to be funded includes: (1) Implementing and testing the software needed for long-term digital preservation, with the understanding that this software is a small addition to available digital content management software (digital library software). (2) Creating and running a pilot digital archive, doing so in a computing environment sufficiently separate from CHM service machines to avoid impacting existing and planned CHM staff activities in support of the committed services of the museum.  This would be on CHM premises, but on separate hardware (funded by the NSF contract.) (3) Making the newly created software available as open source offerings to other institutions and to individuals who want to package other collections for long-term usability. (4) Ingesting a substantial body of CHM digital holdings into this archive, and offering public access to these contents. (5) Eventually turning over the pilot service to become part of CHM infrastructure, after adapting it for synergy with other CHM digital services and to require only very little maintenance. (6) Conducting at least one tutorial workshop for staff of other museums, archives, and research library institutions, doing this on CHM premises. Tentatively, I see this as a two-year effort, with pilot service starting at the beginning of the second year. The NSF schedule calls for preliminary proposals by October 6, 2008 and full proposals by mid-February 2009.  I.e., the actual funded work would not begin until roughly mid-2009. ================================ I see the required technical work as "a piece of cake".  The best available description of what I believe needed is a draft paper, Economics and Engineering for Preserving Digital Content, available as <A href="http://eprints.erpanet.org/141/01/LDP_Engineering.pdf">http://eprints.erpanet.org/141/01/LDP_Engineering.pdf</A> , and other writings it cites.  See also my article <A href="http://www.dlib.org/bonnie/january07/gladney/01gladney.html">Digital Preservation in a National Context: Questions and Views of an NDIIPP Outsider</A>, D-Lib Magazine 13(1/2), January 2007. Related information: there exists a newly established "Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access".  See <A href="http://www.oclc.org/us/en/news/releases/200692.htm">http://www.oclc.org/us/en/news/releases/200692.htm</A> .  I have had a little correspondence with this group and have long been acquainted with some of its members. Lee Dirks, a member of this Task Force, informed me that in 2008 Microsoft Corp. will make available Microsoft Word extensibility features that much facilitate packaging text documents for preservation, more or less in line with the first paper mentioned above. ================================= Please let me have your reactions to this proposal. Cheerio, Henry   H.M. Gladney, Ph.D.  <A href="http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney">http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney</A> _______________________________________________ SCC_active mailing list SCC_active@computerhistory.org <A href="http://mail.computerhistory.org/mailman/listinfo/scc_active" eudora="autourl">http://mail.computerhistory.org/mailman/listinfo/scc_active</A> </BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>