|A significant portion of our educational, cultural, and communication activities take place online, as the web has become the primary hub for information, inspiration, entertainment, and social interactions. But digital information is both pervasive and ephemeral at the same time–by some estimates the average lifespan of a website is between 44 and 100 days–and in dire need of preservation. The challenge is not only preserving the bits of digital objects but also being able to transition over time their affordances, software environment, and the context required for interpretation and consumption.
What does this landscape look like today? To get to the heart of this question, I recently interviewed 21 experts and thought leaders to understand their perspectives on the state of digital preservation. Today, we’re publishing the results of that research: “The State of Digital Preservation in 2018: A Snapshot of Challenges and Gaps.” The paper also seeks to identify research and policy questions that will contribute to the advancement of strategies in support of future scholarship.
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