Friday, February 22, 2008

Digital Preservation Matters - 22 February 2008

JPEG 2000 - a Practical Digital Preservation Standard? Robert Buckley. Digital Preservation Coalition. February 2008.

The Jpeg 2000 is an open standard developed by the ISO JPEG committee to improve the existing jpeg format. It is platform independent. The format includes:

• Lossless and visually lossless image compression
• Multiple derivative images from a single image
• Progressive display, multi-resolution imaging and scalable image quality
• The ability to handle large and high-dynamic range images
• The ability to interactive zoom, pan, and rotate.
• Metadata support

It is being used increasing for archival images. “Most applications, including those in the digital preservation domain, can meet their needs with JPEG 2000 codestreams…” With Jpeg 2000 you can make subsequent derivatives from a compressed image without having to decompress or recompress it. The Digital Preservation Coalition endorses this as a great step for digital preservation.



Microsoft Embraces Open Source. Elizabeth Montalbano. PC World. February 21, 2008.

Microsoft promised "greater transparency" in its development and business practices, and more access to proprietary protocols for Windows and Office and other software products. The new interoperability principles and actions should “ensure open connections, promote data portability, enhance support for industry standards, and foster more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open-source communities.” Microsoft is publishing documentation on protocols that were previously under trade secret licenses, and providing a covenant not to sue open-source developers for using the protocols. They will also start a Document Interoperability Initiative to address data exchange issues between formats.



Microsoft's New Stance and Data Preservation. Melissa Perenson. PCWorld Blog. February 21, 2008.

There is potential in Microsoft's statement that they are making changes to their “technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability.” Archiving no longer just refers to the government or large institutions preserving their data. Media longevity is only part of the problem; the other is data format longevity. Microsoft needs to make sure that the file formats are readable in the future.



Toshiba Gives Up On HD DVD, Ends High-Def Format War. Antone Gonsalves. InformationWeek. February 19, 2008.

Toshiba has announced it will no longer make or market HD DVD players and recorders, which leaves the Blu-ray as the standard for the high-definition disc format. Partners who had dropped their support for HD DVD said that they wanted to eliminate the customer confusion over the incompatible technologies.

No comments: