CASPAR digital preservation project

CASPAR - Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval - is a digital preservation project funded in part by the European Union. It is an Integrated Project running from April 1, 2006 to Sept 30, 2009, and is part of the Sixth Framework Programme (Priority IST-2005-2.5.10, "Access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources").

CASPAR intends to:

* Implement, extend and validate the OAIS Reference Model (ISO:14721:2002)
* Enhance the techniques for capturing Representation Information and other preservation related information for content objects
* Design virtualisation services supporting the preservation of digital resources over the long term, despite changes in the underlying computing (hardware and software) and storage systems, and the Designated Communities.
* Integrate as standard features of CASPAR, digital rights management,authentication and accreditation
* Research more sophisticated access to and use of preserved digital resources including intuitive query and browsing mechanisms
* Develop case studies demonstrating the validity of the CASPAR approach to the preservation of digital resources across different user communities and assessing the conditions for a successful replication
* Actively contribute to the relevant standardisation activities in areas addressed by CASPAR.
* Raise awareness about the critical importance of the preservation of digital resources among the relevant user-communities and facilitate the emergence of a more diverse offer of systems and services for preservation of digital resources.

CASPAR brings together a consortium covering important digital holdings, with the appropriate extensive scientific, cultural and creative expertise, together with commercial partners, and world leaders in the field of information preservation. This Integrated Project is led by Dr David Giaretta of the STFC, who played a central role in the development of OAIS.

The Consortium is composed of the following partners:

* Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC formerly CCLRC)- UK
* European Space Agency, ESRIN - IT
* University of Glasgow, Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII)- UK
* Università di Urbino, Istituto di studi per la tutela dei beni archivistici e librari - IT
* UNESCO
* Advanced Computer Systems S.p.A. - IT
* Asemantics S.R.L. - IT
* IBM Haifa Research Laboratory - IL
* Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Institute of Information Science and Technologies - IT
* Metaware S.p.A. - IT
* Institut National de l’Audiovisuel - FR
* University of Leeds, Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music - UK
* Engineering – Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. - IT
* Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas GR
* Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - FR
*Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) - FR
* International Centre for Art and New Technologies - CZ

ee also

*Planets Project
*Digital Curation Centre

External links

* [http://www.casparpreserves.eu/ CASPAR Web site]
* [http://www.casparpreserves.eu/Members/metaware/ReferenceDocuments/caspar-description-of-work/at_download/file Full description of the planned work]
* [http://developers.casparpreserves.eu:8080/ CASPAR Developers' site - source code, applications and documentation of the CASPAR components]