SHARE - I.T. - Best Practice Review
The second module explored and reviewed the current best practices that have been adopted by the cultural heritage sector and the wider professional community. Standards organisations specific to cultural data such as the Archaeological Data Service (ADS) were consulted on their prescribed policy. Time was also taken to investigate policy and standards outside of cultural heritage, such as engineering.
The major outcome was the identification of several standards and mechanisms to enable digital data to be stored in perpetuity, and for the discovery and use of these data sets for future research, hence maximizing the return in creating the data. Key findings include:
- The OAIS (open archival information system) model provides the framework and terminology for defining an archiving strategy, including the development of suitable data submission and dissemination processes
- The fundamental importance of metadata and the adoption of international standards (Dublin Core, EU INSPIRE, ISO 11915)
- Current metadata standards require extension and adaption to reflect the cultural objects they are describing (e.g. Getty Arts & Architecture Thesaurus)
- The financial implications of archiving digital data, and the need to consider detailed cost models