Doug,
What is the database, what is the operating system, and what is the
nature of the data? Does the database software provide a particular
form of display of the data that can't be found in other databases?
Databases can generally be migrated. If the structures (non-linear
paths) you refer are stored in the database, they can be regenerated
in other systems. There are even standard approaches to storing
navigational data (graphs) within databases, so unless the software
is really arcane and hermetically sealed, there should be a solution.
Of course, it may require a programmer to solve it. OTOH, database
migration is a pretty standard sort of activity, given its importance
in commerce.
Once the data is migrated, the operating system becomes much less
important. There are also standards such as XML (a text-based
standard for representing structured data) that would make it
possible to store data independent of a specific database. There are
Open Source tools for exchanging data in XML with databases that use
SQL (a scripting language for databases).
Not sure I should post this to the list or to you directly, but I
suspect that the question has general relevance, so I'll post to the
list.
cheers,
-- Paul
At 11:24 AM +1100 11/15/04, Doug Moncur wrote:
>It's friday, and I'm out of ideas on this one ;-)
>
>The problem:
>
>we have some non-linear digital objects - basically they are databases
>built on proprietary non-open technology, but they could just as easy be
>computer games, or a dynamically generated web sites, and we need to
>think about the long term preservation.
>
>While we can back up and conserve the one's and zero's with no problem,
>a lot of the intellectual value of the resouce comes from its
>non-linearity ie the relation between various objects and the ability to
>ake different paths through it, ie we need to do more than just back up
>the content, we also need to conserve the execution environment
>
>In the ideal world, you would buy a box with operating system x on it
>and database y on it and maintain it for ever - realistically this won't
>work as things break and you can't get replacement parts.
>
>Emulation is a possible answer, but what we are seeking to emulate
>seems to be an order of magnitude more complex than any of the successes
>of emulation so far.
>
>The question:
>
>This looks to be a problem people are putting in the 'too hard' box.
>Does anyone have any pointers to recent work on this topic?
>
>-Doug
>
>
>
>
>--
>Doug Moncur
>Digital Asset Management System Project Manager
>AIATSIS GPO Box 553 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
>
>ph: +61 2 6246 1102 fx: +61 2 6246 4285
>web: www.aiatsis.gov.au
--
Paul Hertz <[log in to unmask]>
|(*,+,#,=)(#,=,*,+)(=,#,+,*)(+,*,=,#)|
<http://www.northwestern.edu/people/paul-hertz>
|