Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6
OAIS in More Depth
Do not hover always on the surface of things, nor take up suddenly, with mere
appearances; but penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as your time and
circumstances allow, especially in those things which relate to your profession.
(Isaac Watts)
Some of the OAIS concepts were introduced in
Chap. 3
. This chapter delves more
deeply into these concepts and the models which OAIS defines. It also explains the
hows and whys of OAIS conformance.
A number of OAIS [
4
] concepts were introduced in
Chap. 3
. In this chapter we delve
somewhat deeper.
The OAIS standard (ISO 14721) serves several different purposes. Its fundamen-
tal purpose is to provide concepts that can guide digital preservation. Using these
concepts a number of conformance requirements, including mandatory responsi-
bilities, are then described. However another set of related concepts are defined in
OAIS which, although not essential for preserving digitally encoded information,
may nevertheless be extremely useful to facilitate clear discussion by providing a
common terminology.
It is essential to distinguish the concepts which provide useful
terminology from those needed for conformance.
An OAIS is
an archive, consisting of an organization, which may be part of a
larger organization, of people and systems that has accepted the responsibility to
preserve information and make it available for a Designated Community
.
It meets
a set of responsibilities as defined in the standard, and this allows an OAIS archive
to be distinguished from other uses of the term “archive”.
