The Planets Testbed: Science for Digital Preservation

Abstract

The preservation of digital objects requires specific software tools or services. These can be characterisation tools that abstract the essential characteristics of a digital object from a file, migration tools that convert digital objects to different formats, or emulation tools that render digital objects in their original context on a new infrastructure. Until recently digital preservation has been characterised by practices and processes that could best be described as more art and craft than science. The Planets Testbed provides a controlled environment where preservation tools can be tested and evaluated, and where experiment results can be empirically compared. This paper presents an overview of the Testbed application, an analysis of the experiment methodology and a description of the Testbed's web service approach.