The most important new feature of the recently released PDF/A-3 standard is that, unlike PDF/A-2 and PDF/A-1, it allows you to embed any file you like. Whether this is a good thing or not is the subject of some heated on-line discussions. But what do we actually mean by embedded files?

Remote access to emulation, remote emulation and the emergence of a wide range of different cloud services, and end users interacting with them remotely through standardized (web-)client applications on their various devices offers the chance to combine both into an integrated access system to various obsolete computer environments. In order to provide a wide range of services, especially in combination with authentic performance and user-experience, a distributed system model and architecture is helpful.

Blog - Learning by doing in digital preservation

Libraries, archives and museums have been extremely successful in preserving centuries old paper-based, cultural and scientific heritage. How well are they doing with the growing and rapidly ageing digital-based heritage?

System imaging - dumping the permanent storage of a computer system to re-run it in an emulator - is a viable option to preserve complete digital environments. These include complex digital artefacts, famous persons machines, electronic lab books of natural sciences research or software and hardware development environments of software companies, to mention just a few. These artefacts or complex environments - further on "preservation targets" - are typically customized for special purposes and often include highly customised configuration or (unique) user programming. Thus, they often cannot be easily migrated into a preservable format without risking the loss of significant information and/or the context provided by the look and feel and user interaction with the system.