2.3 Theories and theoretical underpinning of the study
2.3.2 The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model
The field of digital preservation has a good number of models in digital archives, record keeping systems, digital libraries and digital repositories. The most widely used model for digital records and archives preservation is the OAIS reference model (Quisbert 2008). In 2002 the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) published the Open Archival Information System Reference Model (2002), a digital archive model that achieved International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2003, that is, ISO 14721:2003 (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012).
The OAIS defines six functional entities namely ingest, archival storage, data management, administration, preservation planning and access. The term “open” is used in recognition of the engagement process used by the creators to seek input from various stakeholders in different disciplines and fields. In May 1997 and May 1999, draft versions of the reference model were released for review. The model was approved and published as a draft ISO standard in June 2000. The reference model was approved in January 2002 as ISO standard 14721 after a final period of review and revision. The OAIS reference model was formalized into an ISO standard in 2002 and was further updated in 2012, with the latest review being published in 2018.
The OAIS reference model is a two-in-one model. It has within it the functional model, which defines archival functions, tasks and information flows; and the
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information model which spells out the different components of the objects that an archive receives, curates and disseminates. The model pays particular attention to the types of information required for long-term preservation and dissemination, as well as metadata necessary to access and understand archived objects. The model also specifies the relationship between the different types of information and how they are structured. These combinations of content and metadata come in different forms depending on the phase of the archiving process in which they occur: there are submission information packages, archival information packages, and dissemination information packages (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012).
Figure 2.2: OAIS Reference model (Source: Flathers, Kenyon and Gessler 2017)
Figure 2.2 (above) shows the functional entities of the OAIS model namely: ingest, archival storage, administration, preservation planning, data management and access.
The starting point of the OAIS model is at ingest, where an ‘information package’
also known as a Submission Information Package (SIP) is received from the producers into the archival repository. The SIP comprises of the data and its accompanying metadata. Records creators in the various units of the institution make up producers. At the ingest stage, the archival repository and producers interact, and the information objects are checked and enhanced to meet repository standards which are determined by the consumers (users of the archives). The consumers make up the archival repository’s ‘designated community’.
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The second functional entity of the OAIS model is archival storage. This is where Archival Information Packages (AIPs) are received from ingest and added to permanent storage. Other activities that occur at this stage of the model include management of the archival objects including the storage hierarchy, regular media refreshing, carrying out routine and special error checks, provision of disaster recovery capabilities and enabling access to the AIPs (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012).
The third functional entity in OAIS reference model is data management. Descriptive and system information are stored at this point of the model, usually in a database.
Other responsibilities of this entity include database maintenance, performing queries sent by the access function and reports generation (Allinson 2006). Thus, the implementation of this section of the model requires archival staff to be well versed with modern technologies and their application to effectively undertake the above technical activities.
The fourth OAIS functional entity is administration. The entire operation of the archive system takes place here, including sourcing for and negotiating submission agreements, configuration management, system engineering, auditing, activating stored requests, and standards and policies establishment and maintenance (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012). Hence, archivists in archival repositories must possess administrative skills.
Preservation planning is the fifth functional entity where monitoring of the environment for important technological changes and needs of the designated community takes place. Other activities that occur here include evaluating the changes identified and handling them appropriately; designing information package templates;
providing design assistance and review to specialize these templates into SIPs and AIPs for specific submissions; providing periodic recommendations for archival information updates, standards and policies; and developing detailed migration plans, software prototypes and test plans (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012). This section of the model determines the long-term survival of digital objects in the archival repository.
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Last but not least, the sixth functional entity of OAIS model known as access controls consumers’ ability to request, discover, and receive information from the archive, including Dissemination Information Packages (DIPs), “result sets” and reports (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems 2012). The archival repository must be clear about who comprises its designated community (authorized customers). The designated community is central to the OAIS reference model and is defined as an identified group of potential consumers who are able to understand a particular set of information. The archival repository staff must be informed about the legal issues surrounding the archives in their custody to efficiently manage the access function.
The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model provides common terminology and a conceptual framework for the preservation and dissemination of digital assets. It gives a set of processes, functions and roles relevant to long-term preservation. Thus, the OAIS Model provides an understanding of the activities undertaken by archives when preserving digital information objects (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives 2015). The mandatory responsibilities that must be met by an OAIS are that it must:
i. Negotiate for and accept the right information from producers;
ii. Determine, either by itself or in conjunction with other parties, which communities should become the designated community and, therefore, should be able to understand the information provided;
iii. Obtain sufficient control of the information provided to the level needed to ensure long-term preservation;
iv. Ensure that the information to be preserved is independently understandable to the designated community, without needing the assistance of the experts who produced the information;
v. Make the preserved information available to the designated community; and vi. Follow documented policies and procedures which ensure that the information
is preserved against all reasonable contingencies, and which enable the information to be disseminated as authenticated copies of the original, or as traceable to the original (Lavoie 2014:7).
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2.3.2.1 Suitability of the OAIS Reference model to the study
The creation of OAIS was purposely for its wide applicability for long-term preservation to any context, but principally in a digital environment, hence its relevance to the present study. Lavoie (2004) revealed that in designing the OAIS reference model, the space data committee collaborated with many organizations in government, private industry and academia. This model is therefore suited for application in organizational and institutional set-ups. Vinton (2018) reiterates that the OAIS reference model is an important model of a functional archive and holds the promise of allowing for interoperability among archives. The OAIS model provides a common terminology and deliverables which must be adhered to. This makes it ideal for adoption in a collaborative scenario, such as in the university sector. Additionally, Allinson (2006) pointed out that the OAIS reference model results into good practice by providing a standard model that gives guidance on preservation, making it part and parcel of other archival functions and activities.
The OAIS Reference Model has proven to be very useful for application in archival systems and has been used successfully in previous studies of similar magnitude.
Allinson (2006) used OAIS to evaluate the drawbacks and benefits of its application in long-term preservation of digital content across institutional repositories in the education sector within the JISC community. Using the model’s checklist of mandatory responsibilities (Section 2.3.2 above) the study affirmed that the OAIS can be used by Institutional Repositories to ensure and maintain good practice in long-term preservation.
Laughton (2011) involved fifty-two individual data centres from different scientific disciplines who were members of the World Data Centre (WDC) in an online survey to establish the extent to which it was possible to develop a standard framework for the curation of digital content. The study identified a number of models and frameworks used for data curation such as: Victorian Electronic Records Strategy and Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards; Keep Research Data Safe 2 activity model; Tsinghua Digital Preservation Platform; Data Document Initiative combined lifecycle model, and; Digital Curation Centre lifecycle model. OAIS was the most documented model by the study and aided in identifying the gaps in current data curation practices. The model informed the process of identifying best practices from the cases studied as well as the practices outlined in the OAIS model, enabling the
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study to conclude that to a large extent it was possible to develop a framework for data curation in WDC. Last but not least, the OAIS was one of the three models used by Adu (2015) to examine digital preservation practices of Ghana’s e-government, resulting in the design of a framework for digital preservation for government organizations in Ghana.
In view of the above, the OAIS model was deemed appropriate for the development of a digital archiving framework, thereby addressing the fifth research question. The present study used OAIS Reference model to inform the study on suitable risk mitigation strategies and development of a framework for digital archiving for public universities in Kenya.
2.3.2.2 Gaps in the OAIS Reference model
The starting point for OAIS model is ingest functional entity, where digital archival objects are admitted into the archival repository. The model completely disregards the pre-ingest period that digital records undergo and seems to assume that the records creators know what kind of digital objects to submit into the repository. Beedham et al. (2005:34) proposed that the OAIS model should pay greater attention to activities that occur prior to ingest and do away with the second model. This deficiency in the model elicits the use of the RCM in the study, which seamlessly integrates records management and archives management activities.
Another ‘unforgivable’ oversight in the OAIS model is that it seems to drop off all records management activities when digital records gain entrance into the archival repository. McGovern (2009) noted that the model disregards the need to keep a record of the digital objects received into the archives from ingest. As if that is not bad enough, the model does not give due attention to explicating the process of metadata capture. According to Allinson (2006), the model lacks descriptions of how metadata schemas have been applied in each information delivery SIP, AIP and DIP.
As emphasized by Gilliland (2008), metadata such as textual description, classification terms or comprehensive entity-relationship database schemas should be captured to ensure good management and access to records for long-term purposes.
These shortcomings make it impossible for the model to be adopted in isolation as an underpinning model for the present study.
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