Guardian and Observer Archives to be Digitized

In an item posted on the KOnnect blog back in August I commented on our sister group KIDMM's expression of interest in digital preservation issues and referenced the current tussle between Microsoft's OOXML format and the Open Source community's ODF as leading contenders for a preservation format. I also referred to the PDF/A format as a possible third contender, and posted a further item on this blog noting the launch of an XMP editor for PDF under Windows.

In a highly significant development, the Guardian News and Media group (GNM), publishers of the Guardian and Observer newspapers, have recently announced that they are to digitize the whole of the archives of the two newspapers. The announcement adds:

"The group says the move will ensure the preservation of the papers’ legacy as microfilm and paper archives are in danger of degrading beyond repair."

Why is this interesting? Well, firstly because there are many in the Records Management community and beyond who claim that paper and microfilm are still the preservation formats with the longest lifetime, and who scorn the suggestion that digital formats can have greater longevity. Can anyone shed any further light on this debate?

Secondly, I wonder what retrieval facilities are to be offered for the new archive; plain content-based FTR plus author & title, or something more sophisticated? We shall find out soon enough, since the archive is free to access during November.

PDF (XMP) Metadata Editor for Windows

Pound Hill Software, a developer of metadata software tools, announced in late August 2007 the release of MetaGrove Suite 1.0 for the Windows XP platform. MetaGrove is a software suite of products that provide XMP metadata capabilities to users of Adobe Creative Suite CS2, which includes the popular Adobe Acrobat (PDF) cross-platform document format.

Why should KO professionals take note? Because the PDF format - as PDF/A - is a possible contender for the archiving of digital information, and Adobe's W3C-conformant XMP metadata specification provides an extensible platform for organizing digital information to make it discoverable.

The roots of this thread lie in the growing importance of LIS (KO) skills in today's world of information glut and knowledge scarcity. This was briefly referenced in my posting to the KOnnect blog entitled 'Bringing it all Back Home', where I referenced our sister-group KIDMM’s recognition of digital preservation as an important issue.

Although current discussion of digital archiving formats tends to focus on the Microsoft OOXML / ODF contest, PDF/A allied with XMP should not be dismissed. The appearance of a sophisticated XMP editor for Windows heralds a new stage in the battle for supremacy in this important KO arena.

A brief review of Pound Hill Software's MetaGrove for Windows metadata editor will appear on ISKO UK's KOnnect blog soon.