01 

Introduction to Digital Technology and Preservation

September 6, Tue 6-10p

Topics
Introduction: Welcome, goals, syllabus, assignments, course overview
Introduction to digital technology and preservation

Lab
Class exercise: Technology timeline, 1995 and beyond

Readings
ALA Freedom to Read Statement
ALA Library Bill of Rights
DP Workshop Digital Technology and Preservation Timeline (note: alternate link is here)

02 

History of Digital Preservation, Introduction to OAIS Model

September 13, Tue 6-10p

Topics
Brief history of digital preservation efforts and initiatives
OAIS reference model, history, and context

Lab  *Bring Laptops to Class*
Booting from the digital preservation class disk image USB thumb drive
Follow along exercise: Navigate file systems with the command line, create files, create folders, list files and directories (pwd, cd, mkdir, touch, ls, etc.) 
Individual exercise: Create your own directory structures and files based on a theme of your choice and create an “ls” report.

Readings
Besser: Moving from Digital Collections to Interoperable Libraries
1996 Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information (review/skim)
Rosenthal: Requirements for Digital Preservation Systems
Digital Preservation Management Workshop: Sections 1–3 (note: alternate link is here)
Lavoie: The Open Archival System Introductory Guide

03

Operating Systems and Computing Environments

September 20, Tue 6-10p

Topics
How computers work: Part 2, Software
Computing foundations and digital preservation: UNIX and GNU/Linux
Free Software Movement and Open Source Software

Lab  *Bring Laptops to Class*
Demo: nano
Follow along exercise: Write a bash script using nano
Individual exercise: Write your own bash shell script using ATOM (GUI) with a prepared script to perform a batch process (ffmpeg, disk usage, df, etc.)

Readings
Finley: Linux Took Over the Web. Now, It’s Taking Over the World (WIRED)
Kelty: Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software (Chapter 3 only) – alternate download here
Lyons: Introduction to Using the Command Line
UNIX tutorial 1 & 2 

Recommended Reading
Raymond: The Cathedral and the Bazaar

04

Digital Format Identification and Characterization

September 27, Tue 6-10p

Topics
NDSA Levels of Preservation
File identification and format sustainability
Characteristics and Specifications of digital files

Lab  *Bring Laptops to Class*
Follow-along exercise: JHOVE, DROID, analysis using Mediainfo and Exiftool
Team Exercise: File specifications and identification with mediainfo, exiftool, and DROID. Format validation with JHOVE. Sustainability research using:
Sustainability of Digital Formats – Planning for Library of Congress Collections
Unix tutorial output 1 & 2 review

Readings
NDSA Levels of Preservation
Peltzman: Expanding NDSA Levels of Preservation
Lacinak: A Primer on Codecs
Jackson: Formats Over Time, UK Libraries
Rosenthal: Formats Through Time, DHSR Blog

Recommended
Library of Congress: Sustainability of Digital Formats (Introduction, Sustainability)

05

Digital Asset Management Tools & Strategies, Data Storage Architecture

October 4, Tue 6-10p

Topics
Digital Asset Management Strategies
Digital File Systems and Storage Media
Servers and Storage Architecture

Lab  *Bring Laptops to Class*
Follow-along exercise: Hard drive formatting and partitioning
Follow-along exercise: Setting up macOS file share
Old Media Lab with Ethan Gates – Legacy digital storage formats

Readings
Google – Pinheiro, Weber, Barroso: Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population
Backblaze – Klein: What Can 49,056 Hard Drives Tell Us?
Altman: NDSA Storage Report
Glicksman: Storage Architectures and Networks
Unix tutorial 3 & 4 

06

Data Integrity, Fixity and Transfer

October 11, Tue 6-10p

Topics
Safe file transfer and maintaining data integrity
Fixity and checksums for preservation of audiovisual digital objects

Lab - Bring Laptops to Class
Follow along exercise: File transfer (cp, mv, rsync)
Follow along exercise: Fixity and checksums (md5,  sha1, hashdeep, framemd5)
Unix tutorial output 3 & 4 review

Readings
Baily: Protect Your Data (The Signal)
Rice: Reconsidering Checksums
Havemeyer-King: Trojan Dots and DIY Solutions (NDSR Blog)