Archival Workshop on Ingest, Identification, and Certification Standards (AWIICS)

(A part of the ISO Archiving Workshop Series)
 
 
  

      

Draft Report


Archival Workshop on Ingest, Identification, and Certification Standards
(AWIICS)
DATE: October 13-15, 1999

HOST: The National Archives and Records Administration
Archives II
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001

 

 

Certification Group Notes

Bruce Ambacher convened the Certification Working Group of AWIICS at 1400 hours on October 13. The members of the group were:

  • Ed Alejandro / Boeing
  • Bruce Ambacher / NARA
  • Neal Beagrie / Arts & Humanities Data Service
  • Jean-Jaques Bedet / Raytheon
  • Robin Dale / Research Libraries Group
  • Thomas Duncan / University of California
  • Parmesh Dwivedi / NOAA
  • Tanny Franco / Defense Technical Information Center
  • Carrie Gonzalez / Southwest Research Institute
  • P C Hariharan / SES Inc
  • Kathy Kidwell / NOAA
  • Joseph King / NASA
  • Ben Kobler / NASA
  • Tom Land / University of Alabama
  • Reagan Moore / San Diego Supercomputer Center
  • Malcolm Rives / NASA
  • Daniel Stare / Eastman Kodak
  • Andy Stone / CEDARS
  • Alan Wood / Lockheed - NASA Life Sciences
After a period of introductions and expressions of interests and special concerns, Bruce Ambacher handed out extracts from the Society of American Archivists, Principles of Institutional Evaluation, and the Association of American Museums, Museum Assessment Program. Both contain useful information on traditional approaches to program and institutional certification and highlight the metrics contained in such assessments. All participants also received Archive Issues with the Evolution of Data and Information, by Parmesh Dwivedi and William Callicott, NOAA/NODC. This paper addresses the digital explosion and suggests some of the radical changes required to cope with digital information.

Following the introductions Bruce Ambacher used additional overheads to expand on some of the certification concepts outlined in the plenary session. He also reviewed the major points in the draft ISO Standard, Electronic Imaging - Legal Considerations for Storage Media in Record Keeping. This draft was developed by ISO/TC 171/SC 3/WG whose secretariat function is performed by the British Space Institute. The standard provides extensive detail on conducting digital scanning to convert information into a digital form. It's core purpose is to provide a "means by which it may be demonstrated at any time, in a manner acceptable to a court of law, that the contents . . . have not changed." All participants received a copy of the draft standard.

The working group the turned to known efforts at certification and introducing any known standards or practices. Prior to the first break Joe King, director of NASA's National Space Science Data Center, placed a list of best practices checklist he had developed based on his needs and the discussion to that point. He presented seven criteria he believed he could use as a manager to assess the performance of any archives. The working group used the balance of its time to discuss the seven criteria, add essential qualifying and explanatory subcriteria, and add additional checklist items. The working group made every effort to ensure that the qualitative and quantitative factors in its checklist complement the concepts within the OAIS Reference Model. The expanded Certification Check List was at the heart of the working group's closing plenary report.

The working group adjourned at 2:30 p.m. on October 14th to participate in the closing plenary.

Wider Views

Overview of the Archival Workshop
Overview of US Effort
Overview of International Effort

URL: http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/awiics/report.html

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Author: Archival Workshop Program Committee (archive_standards@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) +1.301.286.3575
Curator: John Garrett (John.Garrett@gsfc.nasa.gov) +1.301.286.3575
Responsible Official: Code 633.2 / Don Sawyer (Donald.Sawyer@gsfc.nasa.gov) +1.301.286.2748
Last Revised: 31 October 1999, Don Sawyer