The learning outcome of this assignment is to develop a better understanding of the complexities of preparing digital objects for preservation.

Assignment scenario:

….. who has been collecting data about the origins and provenance of stringed instruments (violins, violas, cellos and their ‘ancestors’) for over 30 years (since 1985).  Some of the material is born-digital (see table on p. 3), but most will need to be digitised.  Also, very little metadata has been assigned, although details about most items are available in the musicologist’s research notes.

The current collection includes the following:

• Research notes (handwritten, in bound A4 notebooks)
• Original manuscripts of now published books
• Copies of published (authored) books
• Various scholarly texts
• Musical scores, some annotated with hand-written notes
• Photographs of 17^th and 18^th century paintings and drawings featuring various stringed instruments, particularly cellos
• Photographs of stringed instruments by famous makers held in museums around the world (for example, the Accademia Gallery in Florence)
• Recordings of cello music on various media, including vinyl, cassette tapes and CDs.
• Video recordings of performances featuring local Australian musicians on Super8, videotape and more recently, in digital format (approvals from the performers were given, and these are in paper format)
• Letters to/from international scholars and musicians
• Interviews with international scholars and musicians recorded on regular audio tapes
• Copies of ‘Stringendo’ journal, published twice yearly from 1997

Your task:

Drawing on knowledge from this semester, you need to answer the following questions:

1. Community – who is, or who are, the designated community/ies related to the digital archive? What needs should be taken into account? Where might this collection be housed (digitally speaking)?  Be specific.
2. Types of digital materials – what formats do you recommend for preservation and why?
3. Are there any materials that you wouldn’t select to be a part of the digital archive? Justify your decision/s.
4. What D&RI information would you include for each file group/type?
5. Name a metadata schema that you think would be most appropriate for this collection, and briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using it (i.e. justify why you selected the schema).
6. Where would you go to ask for advice on more specific preservation formats? (be specific)

Make sure to cite your sources correctly (RMIT Business) and write a correctly formatted reference list. Use the RMIT Library resources to help you with referencing: http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/referencing

Marking Criteria

You will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• The identification of the designated communities (qu. 1)
• Relevance of the recommendations being made (questions 2, 3, 4 and 5)
• Valid justifications and arguments of the recommendations being presented based on the information provided, the theory and practice (questions 2, 3, 4 and 5)
• How well your responses have been presented, including communication style, structure, presentation and referencing.