Deliverable Dissemination Level Internal

This deliverable describes the analysis and discussions performed by the PA/4 groups (Tools for objects). We describe the proposed preservation architecture of PLANETS as we understand it, and our area of responsibility. Specifically, we concern ourselves with preservation actions and quality assurance (QA). We discuss several fundamental questions regarding preservation of digital objects from the point of view that the goal of digital preservation is to preserve fidelity (quality of representation of some information in the object) and inclusiveness (preservation of information in the object). We identify several challenges, mainly that automated QA is currently very limited, both in coverage of formats, in thoroughness of the QA, and in that no known QA systems perform comparative QA, i.e. compare the fidelity of a conversion from one format to another. The concept of digital object complexity is identified as a core factor in estimating preservation and migration difficulty, but we are unable to devise a general measure, or a general way to measure it. Further, we identify the “many interpretations ” model of digital objects as desirable, as it reduces risk of loss of fidelity and inclusiveness reduces reliance on few, complex formats and allows for a new model for performing comparative QA, i.e. by comparing only some interpretations of the objects considered, rather than all aspects of it. This conclusion i