Title: Tools for Digital Acquisition
Author: Christopher (Cal) Lee, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Last Updated: June 24, 2009
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 License
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/]

Tools to Support Digital Curation Functions

Note: These are examples to give you a sense of what's out there. It is NOT a comprehenisve list of available products, nor should inclusion be interpreted as endorsement of any particular product or service. See also a list of General Resources for Finding Tools and Information about Tools.

Other multi-purpose tools that cut across many different digital curation functions are:

Function or Function Category	First-Level Sub-Functions
Access [XML Products]	Coordination of access activities [Access Control] Delivery of responses Exposure Generation of access collections Generation of Dessemination Information Package (DIP) [Redaction and Removal of Information from Files] Information discovery Information retrieval [Data Carving; Extracting Data from a Disk Image; Forensic Application Packages; Information Extraction; Mount Disk Image as Drive; Recovery of Passwords and Login Information; Screen Scraping and Web Scraping; Search for Data in Disk Image or other Bitstream] Legal/evidence discovery Viewing [File Viewers; Mount Disk Image as Drive; View Sector-Level Data on Disk or Disk Image]
Administration	Activation of requests Archival information update Assign responsibilities Budgeting and resource allocation Communication Customer service Deliberation process Establishing standards, policies and rules Facilities management and planning Human resource management Implementing and enforcing standards, policies and rules [Access Control] Leadership Management of system configuration [Configuration Management; Reverse Engineering; Screen Scraping and Web Scraping] Management of and response to challenges or complaints Managing relationships between Administration and Management Monitoring and proof of compliance with standards, policies and rules Monitor changes in warrant Planning Project management Review and update of standards, policies and rules Organizational change management Risk management Security [Access Control] Statistical analysis to support operations
Advocacy & Outreach	Engagement with local community Negotiation for resources Outreach and public programming Standards development Understanding and promoting Archive’s role within the larger institutional context
Analysis & Characterization of Digital Objects/Packages	Characterization of digital objects within information package [File Analysis; File Format Identification, Characterization, Validation and Transformation; Forensic Application Packages; Hex Viewers/Editors; Representation Information (Identification and Characterization); Reverse Engineering; Screen Capture; View Sector-Level Data on Disk or Disk Image] Characterization of information package
Analysis & Evaluation of Producer Information Environment [Screen Capture]	Assessment of business activity Assessment of existing systems [Reverse Engineering] Identification of digital curation requirements in production environment Preliminary Investigation
Archival Storage [Online Storage Providers; Persistent Storage Environments]	Disaster planning, preparation and response Ensuring sufficient redundancy of copies Error checking [Checksum and Hash Generators] Holdings maintenance Management of storage hierarchy Providing data Receiving data Replacing media
Common Services [Virtualization and Emulation]	Network services Operating system services [UNIX Tools in Windows] Security services [Access Control]
Collaboration, Coordination & Contracting with External Actors	Conflict resolution involving Producers, Consumers and Archives Establishment of succession, contingency or escrow arrangements with external actors Identifying, establishing and coordinating specific types of collaborative relationships with other Archives Management of agreements Negotiation and maintenance of effective relations with external actors Sourcing
Data Management [XML Products]	Administering database Generating reports Linking/resolution services Performing queries Receiving database updates
Description, Organization & Intellectual Control [XML Products]	Analyzing existing Descriptive Information (DI), Preservation Description Information (PDI) and Packaging Information (PI), and determining needs for DI, PDI and PI Assigning unique, persistent identifiers Creation and capture of Descriptive Information (DI) and Preservation Description Information (PDI) [Information Extraction; Metadata Extraction and Export; Optical Character Recognition (OCR); Screen Capture] Creation and capture of Packaging Information (PI) [Creating an Image (Exact Bit-by-Bit Copy) of Data from a Physical Medium; Data Carving; Data Recovery; Extracting Data from a Disk Image; Forensic Application Packages; Generate Packaging Information; Hardware for Detaching Data from Physical Media; Screen Capture] Creation and maintenance of representation information registry Creation and maintenance of producer profiles Creation and maintenance of policy/rule registries Creation and maintenance of tools registry and tools service Establishing plans and conventions for DI, PDI and PI Subject analysis Versioning Visualization
Destruction & Removal	[Redaction and Removal of Information from Files; Wiping Data and Removing Files from Bitstream]
Identifying, Locating & Harvesting [Web Archiving]	Defining and setting parameters for harvests and file requests Extracting identifier information to determine network locations of resources Harvesting metadata from external sources or repositories Making requests to appropriate locations to collect resources [Screen Scraping and Web Scraping] Synchronizing content
Ingest [Web Archiving; XML Products]	Assigning preservation levels Committing Archival Information Packages (AIPs) to the archive Coordinating updates Generating Archival Information Packages (AIPs) Matching content with rules and agreements Providing feedback to Producers Receiving submissions [Screen Scraping and Web Scraping] Scheduling items in queue to be ingested
Management	Creation or approval of repository service definition Definition or approval of archives mission, objectives and goals Definition or approval of high-level policies Fund raising Mandate and guidance for resource utilization
Preservation Planning & Implementation	Defining significant properties to preserve [Reverse Engineering] Developing packaging designs and migration plans Developing preservation strategies and standards Monitoring designated community/communities Monitoring technology Reconciling preservation requirements with preservation capabilities
Production	Assigning to a management class Ensure production is authorized and ethically sound Fixing to a medium Generating digital content
Purchasing & Managing Licenses to Resources	Encumbering and tracking expenditure of funds of purchased and licensed resources Establishing Archives intellectual property rights in support of preservation actions on digital objects Managing licenses
Reference & User Support Services	Developing policies for reference services Facilitating access to useful and appropriate digital objects Help desk and end user technical support Providing associated information to consumers
Selection, Appraisal & Disposition	Deselection Enacting selection, appraisal or disposition Evaluation and monitoring of collections Identifying needs Identifying valuable information resources Making selection, appraisal or disposition decision Selection/collection policy development
Systems Engineering & Development [XML Products]	Analysis Coding, testing and implementation Database analysis Database design and specification Design Interface design Operation and maintenance Requirements Definition Specification
Transfer	Detachment [Boot Loaders and Boot Managers; Creating an Image (Exact Bit-by-Bit Copy) of Data from a Physical Medium; Data Carving; Data Recovery; Extracting Data from a Disk Image; Forensic Application Packages; Hardware for Detaching Data from Physical Media; Hardware Information Gathering; Mount Disk Image as Drive; Recovery of Passwords and Login Information; Search for Data in Disk Image or other Bitstream] Getting [Data Copying; Network Data Transfer; Screen Capture; Screen Scraping and Web Scraping; View Sector-Level Data on Disk or Disk Image; Web Archiving] Putting [Data Copying; Network Data Transfer]
Transformation of Digital Objects/Packages [XML Products]	[Character and Character Set Transformations; Compression and Decompression; File Format Identification, Characterization, Validation and Transformation; Redaction and Removal of Information from Files; Reverse Engineering; Screen Scraping and Web Scraping; Wiping Data and Removing Files from Bitstream]
Use, Reuse & Adding Value to Accessed Information	[Information Extraction; Optical Character Recognition (OCR); Screen Scraping and Web Scraping; Visualization]
Validation & Quality Control of Digital Objects/Packages	Bitstream checks [Checksum and Hash Generators] Component checks Digital object checks [File Format Identification, Characterization, Validation and Transformation] Information Package checks Virus checks

Meta-level Functions

Category	First-Level Sub-Functions
Analysis & Documentation of Curation Functions	Monitoring and logging Process mapping
Education and Sharing of Expertise or Guidance on Curation Functions
Evaluation & Audit of Curation Functions	Audit of curation functions Certification of repositories or programs
Research & Development to Support Curation Functions	Business process identification and analysis Research methods Supporting and administering research and development User needs analysis and usability assessment