The 'Bit List' of Digitally Endangered Species
The DPC's 'Bit List' of Digitally Endangered Species is an exercise to discover which digital materials our community thinks are most at risk, as well as those which are relatively safe thanks to digital preservation. By compiling and maintaining this list over the coming years, the DPC aims to celebrate great digital preservation endeavours as entries become less of a ‘concern,’ whilst still highlighting the need for efforts to safeguard those still considered ‘critically endangered.’ Here is a high-level view of DPC's Bit List.
Vulnerable
Digital materials are listed as Vulnerable when the technical challenges to preservation are modest but responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are not meeting preservation needs. This classification includes Lower Risk materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Some examples include:
- Materials Posted to Current Web-based Social Media Platforms or Equivalents;
- Facebook posts;
- Twitter;
- WhatsApp Messages;
- SnapChat Messages;
- Slack Channels;
- Online political campaigns;
- Blogs and blog comments;
- Online discussion fora;
- Online communities.
Endangered
Digital materials are listed Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation or responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are poorly equipped to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Vulnerable materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Some examples include:
- Born Digital Photos and Video Shared on Social Media or Uploaded to Cloud Services;
- Flickr;
- Vimeo;
- YouTube;
- Instagram;
- Periscope;
- DropBox;
- Facebook;
- Corporate Records of Long Duration held on Network Drives,
- Intranets and Document Systems,
- Digital Legal Records and Evidence,
- Digital Music Production and Sharing,
- Digital Radio Recordings,
- Orphaned Digital Works:
- digital materials where copyright cannot be traced,
- Published Research Outputs,
- Records of Long Duration from Local Government or Other Government Agencies.
Critically Endangered
Digital materials are listed Critically Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation, there are no agencies responsible for them or those agencies are unwilling or unable to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Some examples include:
- Born Digital Images Held Offline on Portable Storage Devices,
- Community Archives and Community Generated Content,
- Digital Materials Stored on Magnetic Portable Media [Amstrad PCW Disks, MiniDV, ZipDisks, floppy disks (3.5, 5.25, 8), reel-based magnetic tape, Older LTO (especially LTO1-6), Digital Linear Tape, AIT, Digital8, Compact Cassette data tapes, DDS/DAT tapes],
- Digital Materials Stored on Older Portable Media (Non-Magnetic) [such as Flash Drives, USB sticks, CD; DVD, LaserDisc, Magneto-Optical Disc, MiniDisc, GD ROM, Mini-DVD, UMD, EVD, BluRay, HDDVD, HVD, Memory Cards, SD, Micro-SD],
- Family or Personal Records
- childhood photographs and videos,
- School or graduation photos,
- Wedding photos and movies
- Electronic correspondence (email, messenger, WhatsApp)
Practically Extinct
Digital materials are listed as Practically Extinct when the few known examples are inaccessible by most practical means and methods. This classification includes Critically Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Some examples include:
- Pre-WWW Videotex Data Services and Bulletin Board Services,
- Pre-WWW ViewData and TeleText Services where no archival agency has captured and retained the signal.
Concern
Digital materials are listed as of Concern when an active member of the digital preservation community has expressed a legitimate concern but the concern has not yet been assessed by the BitList jury. They will be assessed for inclusion later this year.
Some examples include:
- PDF,
- Websites containing Flash,
- e-mail services,
- Data posted to defunct or little-used social media platforms,
- GeoMagnetic Data,
- Pre-production TV and Movie materials,
- Pension, mortgage and insurance records, Medical records,
- Architectural and engineering data.
Lower Risk
Digital materials are listed as Lower Risk when it does not meet the requirements for other categories but where there is a distinct preservation requirement. Failure or removal of the preservation function would result in re-classification to one of the threatened categories.
- There are no entries classified as Lower Risk this year.
