Editing Digital preservation (section)

==Best practices==
Although preservation strategies vary for different types of materials and between institutions, adhering to nationally and internationally recognized standards and practices is a crucial part of digital preservation activities. Best or recommended practices define strategies and procedures that may help organizations to implement existing standards or provide guidance in areas where no formal standards have been developed.<ref name="Sound Directions 2007">{{cite web|last=Casey |first=M. |title=Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation |url=http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sounddirections/papersPresent/sd_bp_07.pdf |publisher=Bloomington: Indiana University and Cambridge: Harvard University |access-date=30 October 2012 |author2=Gordon, B. |year=2007 |page=5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515201224/http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sounddirections/papersPresent/sd_bp_07.pdf |archive-date=15 May 2012 }}</ref>

Best practices in digital preservation continue to evolve and may encompass processes that are performed on content prior to or at the point of ingest into a digital repository as well as processes performed on preserved files post-ingest over time. Best practices may also apply to the process of digitizing analog material and may include the creation of specialized metadata (such as technical, administrative and rights metadata) in addition to standard descriptive metadata. The preservation of born-digital content may include format transformations to facilitate long-term preservation or to provide better access.<ref>{{cite web|last=Verheul |first=I. |title=Networking for Digital Preservation: Current Practice in 15 National Libraries |url=http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/publications/ifla-publications-series-119.pdf |publisher=K.G. Saur, Munich |access-date=30 October 2012 |year=2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407104311/http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/publications/ifla-publications-series-119.pdf |archive-date=7 April 2014 }}</ref>

No one institution can afford to develop all of the software tools needed to ensure the accessibility of digital materials over the long term.  Thus the problem arises of maintaining a repository of shared tools.  The [[Library of Congress]] has been doing that for years,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/tools/ |title=Tools Showcase - Digital Preservation (Library of Congress) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110150657/http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/tools/ |archive-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> until that role was assumed by the [[Community Owned Digital Preservation Tool Registry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://coptr.digipres.org/Main_Page |title=Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry (COPTR) |year=2013}}</ref>

===Audio preservation===
Various best practices and guidelines for digital audio preservation have been developed, including:
* ''Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects IASA-TC 04'' (2009),<ref>{{cite web|last=International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives |title=Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects |url=http://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation |access-date=1 May 2015 |year=2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508171039/http://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation |archive-date=8 May 2015 }}</ref> which sets out the international standards for optimal audio signal extraction from a variety of audio source materials, for analogue to digital conversion and for target formats for audio preservation
* ''Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation: Report of a Roundtable Discussion of Best Practices for Transferring Analog Discs and Tapes'' (2006),<ref>{{cite web|author1=Council on Library |author2=Information Resources |title=Publication 137: Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation: Report of a Roundtable Discussion of Best Practices for Transferring Analog Discs and Tapes |url=http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/reports/pub137 |access-date=6 September 2012 |year=2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722051129/http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/reports/pub137 |archive-date=22 July 2012 }}</ref> which defined procedures for reformatting sound from analog to digital and provided recommendations for best practices for digital preservation
* ''Digital Audio Best Practices'' (2006) prepared by the Collaborative Digitization Program Digital Audio Working Group, which covers best practices and provides guidance both on digitizing existing analog content and on creating new digital audio resources<ref>{{cite web |last=Digital Audio Working Group. Collaborative Digitization Program |title=Digital Audio Best Practices (Version 2.1) |year=2006 |url=http://www.mndigital.org/digitizing/standards/audio.pdf |access-date=30 October 2012 |publisher=Aurora, Colorado |page=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228142216/http://www.mndigital.org/digitizing/standards/audio.pdf |archive-date=28 February 2013}}</ref>
* ''Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation'' (2007) published by the Sound Directions Project,<ref name="Sound Directions 2007" /> which describes the audio preservation workflows and recommended best practices and has been used as the basis for other projects and initiatives<ref>{{cite web|last=Columbia University Libraries |title=Preserving Historic Audio Content: Developing Infrastructures and Practices for Digital Conversion. Final Report to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation |url=https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/librarywebsecure/behind_the_scenes/mellon_audio/columbia_preserving_audio_final_report_narrative.pdf |access-date=30 October 2012 |page=5 |year=2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203183527/https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/librarywebsecure/behind_the_scenes/mellon_audio/columbia_preserving_audio_final_report_narrative.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Beers |first=Shane |author2=Parker, Bria |title=Hathi Trust and the Challenge of Digital Audio |journal=IASA Journal |year=2011 |issue=36 |url=http://www.hathitrust.org/documents/beers-parker-iasa-201101.pdf |access-date=5 November 2012 |page=39 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127074942/http://www.hathitrust.org/documents/beers-parker-iasa-201101.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref>
* Documents developed by the [[International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives]] (IASA), the [[European Broadcasting Union]] (EBU), the [[Library of Congress]], and the [[Digital Library Federation]] (DLF).

The [[Audio Engineering Society]] (AES) also issues a variety of standards and guidelines relating to the creation of archival audio content and technical metadata.<ref>{{cite web|last=Audio Engineering Society |title=Publications |url=http://www.aes.org/publications/standards/ |access-date=5 November 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028181559/http://www.aes.org/publications/standards/ |archive-date=28 October 2012 }}</ref>

===Moving image preservation===
The term "moving images" includes analog film and video and their born-digital forms: digital video, digital motion picture materials, and digital cinema. As analog videotape and film become obsolete, digitization has become a key preservation strategy, although many archives do continue to perform photochemical preservation of film stock.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials. |year=2007 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Science and Technology Council |page=19 |url=http://www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/digitaldilemma/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218075928/http://www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/digitaldilemma/ |archive-date=2013-02-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Commission Staff Working Document on the challenges for European film heritage from the analogue and the digital era: Third implementation report of the 2005 EP and Council Recommendation on Film Heritage |year=2012 |location=Brussels |pages=11, 17, 93–114 |url=http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/docs/reg/cinema/report_3/swd_2012_431_en.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007171056/http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/docs/reg/cinema/report_3/swd_2012_431_en.pdf |archive-date=October 7, 2013 }}</ref>

"Digital preservation" has a double meaning for audiovisual collections:  analog originals are preserved through digital reformatting, with the resulting digital files preserved; and born-digital content is collected, most often in proprietary formats that pose problems for future digital preservation.

There is currently no broadly accepted standard target digital preservation format for analog moving images.<ref name="Science and Technology Council">{{cite book|title=The Digital Dilemma 2: Perspectives from Independent Filmmakers, Documentarians and Nonprofit Audiovisual Archives: Nonprofit Audiovisual Archives section|year=2012|publisher=Science and Technology Council, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|url=http://www.oscars.org/tdd2}}</ref> The complexity of digital video as well as the varying needs and capabilities of an archival institution are reasons why no "one-size-fits-all" format standard for long-term preservation exists for digital video like there is for other types of digital records "(e.g., word-processing converted to [[PDF/A]] or [[TIFF]] for images)".<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://siarchives.si.edu/what-we-do/digital-curation/digital-video-preservation|title=Digital Video Preservation|last=bradyh|date=2017-04-26|website=Smithsonian Institution Archives|access-date=2019-04-29}}</ref><ref name=":64">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scart.be/?q=en/content/short-guide-choosing-digital-format-video-archiving-masters|title=A short guide to choosing a digital format for video archiving masters {{!}} Scart - a website on audiovisual heritage by packed|website=www.scart.be|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref>

Library and archival institutions, such as the Library of Congress and [[New York University]], have made significant efforts to preserve moving images; however, a national movement to preserve video has not yet materialized".<ref name=":34">{{Cite journal|last=Frick|first=Caroline|date=April 2014|title='Separate but Equal?': Bolstering Audiovisual Preservation.|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pdtc.2014.43.issue-1-2/pdtc-2014-1004/pdtc-2014-1004.xml|journal=Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture|volume=43|issue=1–2|pages=20–25|doi=10.1515/pdtc-2014-1004|s2cid=199576183 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The preservation of audiovisual materials "requires much more than merely putting objects in cold storage".<ref name=":34" /> Moving image media must be projected and played, moved and shown. Born-digital materials require a similar approach".<ref name=":34" />

The following resources offer information on analog to digital reformatting and preserving born-digital audiovisual content.

* The Library of Congress tracks the sustainability of digital formats, including moving images.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/video.shtml |title=Moving Images |work=digitalpreservation.gov |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425032848/http://digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/video.shtml |archive-date=2013-04-25 }}</ref>
* ''The Digital Dilemma 2: Perspectives from Independent Filmmakers, Documentarians and Nonprofit Audiovisual Archives (2012)''.<ref name="Science and Technology Council" /> The section on nonprofit archives reviews common practices on digital reformatting, metadata, and storage. There are four case studies.
* [http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/about/ Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI)]. Started in 2007, this is a collaborative effort by federal agencies to define common guidelines, methods, and practices for digitizing historical content. As part of this, two working groups are studying issues specific to two major areas, Still Image and Audio Visual.<ref>{{cite web|last=Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative |title=Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative |url=http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov |access-date=5 March 2013 |year=2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204231349/http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/ |archive-date=4 February 2013 }}</ref>
* PrestoCenter publishes general audiovisual information and advice at a European level. Its online library has research and white papers on digital preservation costs and formats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prestocentre.org/library |title=PrestoCentre |work=prestocentre.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130064826/http://www.prestocentre.org/library |archive-date=2012-11-30 }}</ref>
* The [[Association of Moving Image Archivists]] (AMIA) sponsors conferences, symposia, and events on all aspects of moving image preservation, including digital. The [http://www.amiatechreview.com/ ''AMIA Tech Review''] contains articles reflecting current thoughts and practices from the archivists' perspectives. ''Video Preservation for the Millennia (2012)'', published in the ''AMIA Tech Review'', details the various strategies and ideas behind the current state of video preservation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tadic |first=Linda |title=Video Preservation for the Millennia |journal=AMIA Tech Review Journal |year=2012 |issue=4 |url=http://www.amiatechreview.org/V12-05/papers/tadic.pdf |access-date=21 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510054430/http://www.amiatechreview.org/V12-05/papers/tadic.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2015 }}</ref>
*The [[National Archives of Australia]] produced the Preservation Digitisation Standards which set out the technical requirements for digitisation outputs produced under the National Digitisation Plan. This includes video and audio formats, as well as non-audiovisual formats.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Preservation Digitisation Standards {{!}} naa.gov.au|url=https://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/our-organisation/accountability-and-reporting/archival-policy-and-planning/preservation-digitisation-standards|access-date=2021-11-10|website=www.naa.gov.au}}</ref>
*The [[Smithsonian Institution Archives]] published guidelines regarding file formats used for the long-term preservation of electronic records, which are regarded as open, standard, non-proprietary, and well-established. The guidelines are used for video and audio formats, and other non-audiovisual materials.<ref name=":03"/>

==== Codecs and containers ====
Moving images require a [[codec]] for the decoding process; therefore, determining a codec is essential to digital preservation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~galloway/spring2017/INF392K2017/AVPS_Codec_Primer.pdf |title=A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives & 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management |last=Lacinak |first=Chris |date=April 2010 |website=UTexas |access-date=March 28, 2022}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In ''"A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives: 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management"'' written by Chris Lacinak and published by AudioVisual Preservation Solutions, Lacinak stresses the importance of archivists choosing the correct codec as this can "impact the ability to preserve the digital object".<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=April 1, 2010|title=Codecs primer for archives|journal=Information Standards Quarterly|volume=22|pages=1/3|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Therefore, the codec selection process is critical, "whether dealing with [[Born-digital|born digital]] content, reformatting older content, or converting analog materials".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Lacinak's ten recommendations for codec selection and management are the following: adoption, disclosure, transparency, external dependencies, documentation and metadata, pre-planning, maintenance, obsolescence monitoring, maintenance of the original, and avoidance of unnecessary trans-coding or re-encoding.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> There is a lack of consensus to date among the archival community as to what standard codec should be used for the digitization of analog video and the long-term preservation of digital video nor is there a single "right" codec for a digital object; each archival institution must "make the decision as part of an overall preservation strategy".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":43">{{Cite web|url=https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/advice/choosing-codec-for-digitising-audio-or-video|title=Choosing a format/codec for digitising audio or video|date=2015-11-10|website=records.nsw.gov.au|language=en|access-date=2019-05-06|archive-date=2019-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506092455/https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/advice/choosing-codec-for-digitising-audio-or-video|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":64"/><ref name=":3" />

A [[digital container format]] or wrapper is also required for moving images and must be chosen carefully just like the codec.<ref name=":43"/> According to an international survey conducted in 2010 of over 50 institutions involved with film and video reformatting, "the three main choices for preservation products were [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]], [[QuickTime File Format|QuickTime]] (.MOV) or [[Material Exchange Format|MXF]] (Material Exchange Format)".<ref name=":52">{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/preservation/products/definitions/video-opt.html|title=Video Digital Product Options|website=archives.gov|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> These are just a few examples of containers. The [[National Archives and Records Administration]] (NARA) has chosen the AVI wrapper as its standard container format for several reasons including that AVI files are compatible with numerous open source tools such as [[VLC media player|VLC]].<ref name=":52"/>

Uncertainty about which formats will or will not become obsolete or become the future standard makes it difficult to commit to one codec and one container."<ref name=":64"/> Choosing a format should "be a trade off for which the best quality requirements and long-term sustainability are ensured."<ref name=":64"/>

==== Considerations for content creators ====
By considering the following steps, content creators and archivists can ensure better accessibility and preservation of moving images in the long term:

* Create uncompressed video if possible. While this does create large files, their quality will be retained. Storage must be considered with this approach.<ref name=":12"/><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |url=http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/guidelines/FADGI_BDV_p3_20141202.pdf |title=Creating and Archiving Born Digital Video Part III. High Level Recommended Practices |date=December 2, 2014 |website=Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative |access-date=March 28, 2022}}</ref><ref name=":64"/>
* If uncompressed video is not possible, use lossless instead of lossy compression. The compressed data gets restored while lossy compression alters data and quality is lost.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":43"/><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":64" />
* Use higher bit rates (This affects resolution of the image and size of file.)<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":7" />
* Use technical and descriptive metadata.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":7" />
* Use containers and codecs that are stable and widely used within the archival and digital preservation communities.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":52"/><ref name=":03"/><ref name=":7" />

===Email preservation===
[[Email]] poses special challenges for preservation: [[email client|email client software]] varies widely; there is no common structure for email messages; email often communicates sensitive information; individual email accounts may contain business and personal messages intermingled; and email may include attached documents in a variety of file formats.  Email messages can also carry viruses or have spam content. While email transmission is standardized, there is no formal standard for the long-term preservation of email messages.<ref>{{cite conference|author=Goethals, Andrea |author2=Wendy Gogel |title=Reshaping the Repository: The Challenge of Email Archiving. |book-title=7th International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES2010) |year=2010 |url=http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/dp/ipres2010/papers/goethals-08.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602224925/http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/dp/ipres2010/papers/goethals-08.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-02 }}</ref>

Approaches to preserving email may vary according to the purpose for which it is being preserved. For businesses and government entities, email preservation may be driven by the need to meet retention and supervision requirements for regulatory compliance and to allow for legal discovery. (Additional information about email archiving approaches for business and institutional purposes may be found under the separate article, [[Email archiving]].) For research libraries and archives, the preservation of email that is part of born-digital or hybrid archival collections has as its goal ensuring its long-term availability as part of the historical and cultural record.<ref name="Prom">{{cite report |last=Prom |first=Christopher J |title=Technology Watch Report 11-01: Preserving Email |year=2011 |page=5 |url=http://www.dpconline.org/component/docman/doc_download/739-dpctw11-01pdf |access-date=18 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824021447/http://www.dpconline.org/component/docman/doc_download/739-dpctw11-01pdf |archive-date=24 August 2013}}</ref>

Several projects developing tools and methodologies for email preservation have been conducted based on various preservation strategies: normalizing email into XML format, migrating email to a new version of the software and emulating email environments: [http://mobisocial.stanford.edu/muse/ Memories Using Email] (MUSE), [http://siarchives.si.edu/cerp/ Collaborative Electronic Records Project] (CERP), [https://web.archive.org/web/20130604154259/http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/EmailPreservation/default.htm E-Mail Collection And Preservation] (EMCAP), [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pedalsemailextr/ PeDALS Email Extractor Software] (PeDALS), [http://xena.sourceforge.net/ XML Electronic Normalizing of Archives tool] (XENA).

Some best practices and guidelines for email preservation can be found in the following resources:
* ''Curating E-Mails: A Life-cycle Approach to the Management and Preservation of E-mail Messages'' (2006) by Maureen Pennock.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pennock|first=Maureen|title=Curating E-Mails: A Life-cycle Approach to the Management and Preservation of E-mail Messages|journal=DCC Digital Curation Manual|year=2006|url=http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/resource/curation-manual/chapters/curating-e-mails/curating-e-mails.pdf|access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref>
* ''Technology Watch Report 11-01: Preserving Email'' (2011) by Christopher J Prom.<ref name="Prom" />
* ''Best Practices: Email Archiving'' by Jo Maitland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maitland |first=Jo |title=Best Practices: Email Archiving |year=2008 |publisher=Forrester Research, Inc |url=http://www.usdatavault.com/library/email_archiving_best_practices.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704225020/http://www.usdatavault.com/library/email_archiving_best_practices.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-04 }}</ref>

===Video game preservation===
{{main|Video game preservation}}
In 2007 the ''[[Keeping Emulation Environments Portable]]'' (KEEP) project, part of the EU [[Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development]] 7, developed tools and methodologies to keep digital software objects available in their original context. Digital software objects as [[video games]] might get lost because of [[digital obsolescence]] and non-availability of required legacy hardware or operating system software; such software is referred to as [[abandonware]]. Because the [[source code]] is often not available any longer,<ref name="videogaem preservation">{{cite web|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/where-games-go-to-sleep-the-game-preservation-crisis-part-1 |title=Where Games Go To Sleep: The Game Preservation Crisis, Part 1 |first=John |last=Andersen |quote=The existence of decaying technology, disorganization, and poor storage could in theory put a video game to sleep permanently -- never to be played again. Troubling admissions have surfaced over the years concerning video game preservation. When questions concerning re-releases of certain game titles are brought up during interviews with developers, for example, these developers would reveal issues of game production material being lost or destroyed. Certain game titles could not see a re-release due to various issues. One story began to circulate of source code being lost altogether for a well-known RPG, preventing its re-release on a new console. |website=[[Gamasutra]] |access-date=2013-01-10 |date=2011-01-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422061043/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6271/where_games_go_to_sleep_the_game_.php?print=1 |archive-date=2013-04-22 }}</ref> emulation is the only preservation opportunity. KEEP provided an emulation framework to help the creation of such emulators. KEEP was developed by Vincent Joguin, first launched in February 2009 and was coordinated by Elisabeth Freyre of the [[French National Library]].<ref name="CORDIS FP7">{{cite web|url=http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=FP7_PROJ_EN&ACTION=D&DOC=14&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=011f6d8aa49a:9a36:4c327c02&RCN=89496 |title=7th Framework Programm [ICT-2007.4.3 Digital libraries and technology-enhanced learning] |year=2009 |access-date=2009-11-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211235046/http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=FP7_PROJ_EN&ACTION=D&DOC=14&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=011f6d8aa49a%3A9a36%3A4c327c02&RCN=89496 |archive-date=2010-02-11 }}</ref>

A community project, [[MAME]], aims to emulate any historic computer game, including arcade games, console games and the like, at a hardware level, for future archiving.

In January 2012 the POCOS project funded by JISC organised a workshop on the preservation of gaming environments and virtual worlds.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Preserving Complex Digital Objects|last1 = Delve|first1 = Janet|publisher = Facet|year = 2014|location = London|first2 = David|last2 = Anderson}}</ref>

===Personal archiving===
There are many things consumers and artists can do themselves to help care for their collections at home.
* The Software Preservation Society is a group of computer enthusiasts that is concentrating on finding old software disks (mostly games) and taking a snapshot of the disks in a format that can be preserved for the future.
* "Resource Center: Caring For Your Treasures" by American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works details simple strategies for artists and consumers to care for and preserve their work themselves.<ref>{{cite web|last=American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works |title=Resource Center: Caring For Your Treasures |url=http://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=630 |access-date=5 March 2013 |year=2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203013005/https://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=630 |archive-date=3 December 2010 }}</ref>

The Library of Congress also hosts a list for the self-preserver which includes direction toward programs and guidelines from other institutions that will help the user preserve social media, email, and formatting general guidelines (such as caring for CDs).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/padKit/resources.html |title=Personal Archiving - Digital Preservation (Library of Congress) |work=digitalpreservation.gov |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303015031/http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/padKit/resources.html |archive-date=2013-03-03 }}</ref>
Some of the programs listed include:
* [[HTTrack]]: Software tool which allows the user to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to their computer.
* Muse: Muse (short for Memories Using Email) is a program that helps users revive memories, using their long-term email archives, run by Stanford University.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mobisocial.stanford.edu/muse/ |title=Muse |access-date=2013-03-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322222818/http://mobisocial.stanford.edu/muse/ |archive-date=2013-03-22 }}</ref>

===Scientific research===
In 2020, researchers reported in a [[preprint]] that they found "176 [[Open Access]] [[scientific journal|journals]] that, through lack of comprehensive and open archives, <!--User:Bluerasberry/lost_research-->vanished from the Web between 2000-2019, spanning all major research disciplines and geographic regions of the world" and that in 2019 only about a third of the 14,068 [[Directory of Open Access Journals|DOAJ]]-indexed journals ensured the long-term preservation of their content.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brainard |first1=Jeffrey |title=Dozens of scientific journals have vanished from the internet, and no one preserved them |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/dozens-scientific-journals-have-vanished-internet-and-no-one-preserved-them |access-date=11 October 2020 |work=Science |date=8 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kwon |first1=Diana |title=More than 100 scientific journals have disappeared from the Internet |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02610-z |access-date=11 October 2020 |journal=Nature |date=10 September 2020 |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-020-02610-z}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laakso |first1=Mikael |last2=Matthias |first2=Lisa |last3=Jahn |first3=Najko |title=Open is not forever: A study of vanished open access journals |journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |year=2021 |volume=72 |issue=9 |pages=1099–1112 |doi=10.1002/ASI.24460 |arxiv=2008.11933 |s2cid=221340749 }}</ref> Some of the scientific research output is not located at the scientific journal's website but on other sites like source-code repositories such as [[GitLab]]. The [[Internet Archive]] archived many – but not all – of the lost academic publications and makes them available on the Web.<ref name="Claburn 2020">{{cite web |last1=Claburn |first1=Thomas |title=Open access journals are vanishing from the web, Internet Archive stands ready to fill in the gaps |url=https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/10/open_access_journal/ |website=[[The Register]] |language=en |date=10 September 2020}}</ref> According to an analysis by the Internet Archive "18 per cent of all open access articles since 1945, over three million, are not independently archived by us or another preservation organization, other than the publishers themselves".<ref name="Claburn 2020"/> [[Sci-Hub]] does academic archiving outside the bounds of contemporary [[copyright law]] and also provides access to academic works that do not have an open access license.<ref name="Claburn 2020"/>

=== Digital Building Preservation ===
"The creation of a 3D model of a historical building needs a lot of effort."<ref>{{Cite journal|year=2012|title=Digital Preservation of Historical Buildings Using Virtual Reality Technologies|journal=Central European Journal of Computer Science |volume=2|issue=3|pages=272–82|doi=10.2478/s13537-012-0022-8|last1=Hrozek|first1=František|last2=Sobota|first2=Branislav|last3=Szabó|first3=Csaba|s2cid=12353917|doi-access=free}}</ref> Recent advances in technology have led to developments of 3-D rendered buildings in virtual space. Traditionally the buildings in video games had to be rendered via code, and many game studios have done highly detailed renderings (see [[Assassin's Creed]]). But due to most preservationist not being highly capable teams of professional coders, Universities have begun developing methods by doing 3-D laser scanning. Such work was attempted by the [[National Taiwan University of Science and Technology]] in 2009. Their goal was "to build as-built 3D computer models of a historical building, the Don Nan-Kuan House, to fulfill the need of digital preservation."<ref>{{Cite journal|year=2009|title=Digital Preservation of a Historical Building - the 3D As-built Scan of Don Nan-Kuan House|journal=Computer-Aided Design and Applications|volume=6|issue=4|pages=493–99|doi=10.3722/cadaps.2009.493-499|last1=Shih|first1=Naai-Jung|last2=Lee|first2=Chia-Yu|last3=Jhan|first3=Shih-Wei|last4=Wang|first4=Guan-Syun|last5=Jhao|first5=Yong-Fong|doi-access=free}}</ref> To rather great success, they were capable of scanning the Don Nan-Kuan House with bulky 10&nbsp;kg (22&nbsp;lbs.) cameras and with only minor touch-ups where the scanners were not detailed enough. More recently in 2018 in [[Calw]], Germany, a team conducted a scanning of the historic Church of St. Peter and Paul by collecting data via laser scanning and photogrammetry. "The current church's tower is about 64 m high, and its architectonic style is neo-gothic of the late nineteenth century. This church counts with a main nave, a chorus and two lateral naves in each side with tribunes in height. The church shows a rich history, which is visible in the different elements and architectonic styles used. Two small windows between the choir and the tower are the oldest parts preserved, which date to thirteenth century. The church was reconstructed and extended during the sixteenth (expansion of the nave) and seventeenth centuries (construction of tribunes), after the destruction caused by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). However, the church was again burned by the French Army under General Mélac at the end of the seventeenth century. The current organ and pulpit are preserved from this time. In the late nineteenth century, the church was rebuilt and the old dome Welsch was replaced by the current neo-gothic tower. Other works from this period are the upper section of the pulpit, the choir seats and the organ case. The stained-glass windows of the choir are from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while some of the nave's windows are from middle of the twentieth century. Second World War having ended, some neo-gothic elements were replaced by pure gothic ones, such as the altar of the church, and some drawings on the walls and ceilings."<ref>{{Cite journal|year=2018|title=Methodology for Digital Preservation of the Cultural and Patrimonial Heritage: Generation of a 3D Model of the Church St. Peter and Paul (Calw, Germany) by Using Laser Scanning and Digital Photogrammetry|journal=Sensor Review |volume=38|issue=3|pages=282–88|doi=10.1108/SR-06-2017-0106|last1=Owda|first1=Abdalmenem|last2=Balsa-Barreiro|first2=José|last3=Fritsch|first3=Dieter|s2cid=117148260}}</ref> With this much architectural variance it presented a challenge and a chance to combine different technologies in a large space with the goal of high-resolution. The results were rather good and are available to view online.