Fixity and Digital Preservation
06/11/2019
-- Do you know the level of preservation of your content?
A short time back, the NDSA (National Digital Stewardship Alliance) published some excellent articles that look at the different levels of digital preservation you should apply to your content and how you can measure it. The concepts they described are valid and very relevant nowadays but some adjustments could be made to the importance of some of the categories they defined.
A fundamental goal of digital preservation is to establish and check its fixity or stability.
In the context of digital preservation, fixity is the property of a digital file or object being fixed or unchanged. This is synonymous with bit-level integrity. Fixity information offers evidence that one set of bits is identical to another.
The PREMIS data dictionary defines fixity information as information used to verify whether an object has been altered in an undocumented or unauthorized way. Fixity information is normally based on checksums or cryptographic hashes.
There are a whole range of reasons to collect, maintain and verify fixity information on your digital content:
Assure the good reception of the content
Assure the content hasn't changed unexpectedly
Assure the content hasn't changed in transfers
Support the repair of corrupted or altered content
Monitor hardware degradation
Allow change in a portion of the content leaving the rest intact
Support the monitoring of production or digitalisation processes
Document provenance and history
Detect human errors in the manipulation of the content
There are different approaches on how and when to generate fixity information:
On ingest
On transfer
At regular intervals
Into storage systems
On portions of the content
Obviously, the generation of fixity information requires accessing the content. The uncertainty principle can be applied here in the sense that accessing the content to extract the fixity information will generate different effects in the systems holding or accessing the content depending on how and how often fixity is generated and checked, some of those effects can be:
Removing CPU time from other services because they are calculating fixity information
Degradation of the hardware holding the data
Redundant fixity information if different systems are calculating it, etc
A very important aspect to take into account is where to store fixity information. There are different approaches:
In object's metadata
In databases
Together with the content
Embedded in the content
NDSA defined five general categories in order of importance:
Storage and Geographic Location
File Fixity and Data Integrity
Information Security
Metadata
File Formats
During the past years in the media industry, the metadata has become as important as the data so we could argue that you should consider protecting the metadata at the same level of importance as the data.
At Object Matrix
From the inception of MatrixStore, our main product, we have taken the approach to protect the metadata of the objects at the same level as the data. Metadata resides with the objects and gets the same protection and policies as the data.
We calculate and check fixity information as checksums at different points in our customer's workflows where our software is involved. For instance, our client applications calculate independently and verify checksums with MatrixStore in a transparent way to the users in order to detect transfer errors.
MatrixStore lets you choose the level of integrity (that is, which checksum algorithm) to use in transfers and fixity verification so that you can control how the fixity generation affects the performance of hardware.
Internally, MatrixStore also can regenerate and verify fixity information about the content, including the metadata in order to repair the content if an authorised or unexpected change as happened. MatrixStore is able to correct the content using a good instance of the object within the same system or from a remote system.
Conclusion
At Object Matrix, the security and integrity of the content are core features in our products in order to help our customers to achieve and maintain a high level of preservation of their content.
We raised the level of protection of the metadata up to the same level as the data.
You can implement a high level of digital preservation of your content as recommended by the NDSA using Object Matrix products.
References: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/documents/NDSA-Fixity-Guidance-Report-final100214.pdf
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/documents/NDSA_Levels_Archiving_2013.pdf
-- About Object Matrix
Object Matrix is the award winning software company that pioneered object storage and the modernisation of media archives. It exists to enable global collaboration, increase operational efficiencies and empower creativity through deployment of MatrixStore, the on-prem and hybrid cloud storage platform. Their focus on the media industry gives them a deep understanding of the challenges organisations face when protecting, processing and sharing video content. Customers include: BBC, Orange, France Televisions, the NBA, BT, HBO, TV Globo, MSG-N and NBC Universal.
LINK: | https://object-matrix.com/fixity-and-digital-preservation/... |
See more stories from matrixstore |
More from Matrixstore Quattro Object Matrix Ltd
23/08/2023
Perifery enhances Swarm through integration with Object Matrix
August 23, 2023 Perifery enhances Swarm through integration with Object Matrix Ft. Lauderdale, 23rd August 2023 Perifery has announced the integration of O...
08/08/2023
Speeding Up Media Production With AI Processing At The Edge
-- Back to TVNewsCheck Home Print this page OPEN MIKE BY JASON PERR Speeding Up Media Production With AI Processing At The Edge AI-based storage solu...
08/08/2023
DataCore Wins Silver Stevie Award for Outstanding Sales and Customer Service
March 9, 2023 DataCore Wins Silver Stevie Award for Outstanding Sales and Customer Service FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. March 9, 2023 DataCore Software today an...
08/08/2023
DataCore Introduces Perifery Division for High-Growth Edge Markets
April 11, 2023 DataCore Introduces Perifery Division for High-Growth Edge Markets Perifery Offers Groundbreaking Edge Solutions for Companies in Media and Ente...
08/08/2023
Perifery Introduces Groundbreaking New AI+ Services for Media Content Production at the Edge
April 11, 2023 Perifery Introduces Groundbreaking New AI Services for Media Co...
08/08/2023
Perifery Taps Seasoned Industry Professionals to Propel Growth in Edge Markets
April 16, 2023 Perifery Taps Seasoned Industry Professionals to Propel Growth in Edge Markets Strategic New Appointments Strengthen Perifery's Position as ...
08/08/2023
Perifery AI+ Wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award
April 27, 2023 Perifery AI Wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. April 27, 2023 Perifery, a division of DataCore, today announced t...
08/08/2023
Perifery Transporter Is Now Shipping Worldwide
June 27, 2023 Perifery Transporter Is Now Shipping Worldwide Edge Media Appliance Enables Fast, Efficient, Secure Storage and Transport of Media Content Betwee...
08/08/2023
Perifery to Discuss Content Storage Strategies at SVG Sports Content Management Forum
July 21, 2023 Perifery to Discuss Content Storage Strategies at SVG Sports Cont...
08/08/2023
Perifery Appoints Jonathan Morgan to Lead Edge and Storage Product Offerings
July 25, 2023 Perifery Appoints Jonathan Morgan to Lead Edge and Storage Product Offerings As the Senior Vice President of Product and Technology, Morgan Will ...
21/06/2023
A Multi-Cloud Approach to Media
In an era characterised by the explosion of demand for digital content, media organisations are having to deal with more assets than ever. Yet, despite sharing ...
01/06/2023
Exploring the Potential of Hybrid Cloud Storage in Media Workflows
The media industry has been transformed by a digital revolution, and as a result, cloud storage has become an increasingly popular solution for handling vast am...
25/05/2023
Interoperability: On-prem and in the Cloud
As organisations continue to generate an increasing number of media assets, they are growing more reliant on storage systems to manage the vast amounts of data....
05/05/2023
Managing Media in the Hybrid Cloud
Digital innovation has been a driving force in how content is created, managed, and distributed within the media industry. In the last few years especially, org...
12/04/2023
Object Matrix Empowers Distributed Media Workflows with New Technology Releases
April 12, 2023 Object Matrix Empowers Distributed Media Workflows with New Technology Releases Cardiff, Wales, 11th April 2023 - Object Matrix has announced ...
30/03/2023
5 Reasons To Backup Your Data
At Object Matrix, we are extremely proud to celebrate World Backup Day on March 31st each year. As a leading provider of digital content governance and object s...
22/03/2023
Workflows for Content Collaboration
Collaboration is essential in any media workflow. Successful projects are often linked to collaborative efforts, as multiple teams come together to work on vari...
21/02/2023
How to Optimise Media Storage with Integration
The growth of the industry has resulted in media companies having to store and manage more assets for a wider range of uses. With teams working across hybrid en...
08/02/2023
An exciting future for Object Matrix & DataCore
Written by Jonathan Morgan, MD, Object Matrix I'm off to Hollywood! Well the Hollywood Professional Association Tech Retreat and that's twice as cool...
24/01/2023
DataCore Acquire Object Matrix
I am excited and proud that Object Matrix has been acquired and is now a part of DataCore. This is of course a momentous step on the Object Matrix journey and f...
12/12/2022
My Top Tips for a Marketer in the Media Technology Industry
Since joining the media technology industry 18 months ago, I'd like to share my top marketing tips the things that I have learned along the way and what I...
01/12/2022
Is Public Cloud the right option for Post-Production Houses?
The post-production process involves so many important aspects from cutting raw film, combining that footage, to adding music, sound effects, and colour grading...
01/12/2022
Sunk Costs Fallacy The Curse of the Broadcast Industry
The sunk cost fallacy is when we continue to do something because of our past decisions (time or money spent) rather than making a rational choice to change thi...
30/11/2022
Object Matrix Sankofa is Our Future
Sankofa is a Ghanian word from the Akan tribe meaning: to learn from the past I must return and get it This does not mean to dwell in the past. Rather the w...
21/11/2022
What are the consequences of public cloud?
Written by Peter Watling, Head of Sales EMEA at Object Matrix Consequence: a result or effect, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant. We have all don...
16/11/2022
Object Matrix & StorageDNA extend their technical partnership to enable multiple storage end points for users
The technical partnership between StorageDNA and Object Matrix has been extended...
26/10/2022
Object Matrix integrates with qibb to provide media-focused S3 object storage workflow options
Object Matrix, a leading provider of object storage solutions to the broadcast a...
19/10/2022
Why do Global Broadcasters use MatrixStore Object Storage in Avid workflows?
The increasing need to monetise archive content, the risk of cyberattacks, the rise of working from anywhere, and the switch to UHD have placed enormous strain ...
18/10/2022
New 50m collaboration to develop global hub for TV, film and media innovation in Wales
A new £50 million collaboration is set to help develop a world-leading hub for i...
05/10/2022
Object Matrix and Resilio Partner to Optimise Content Collaboration
Object Matrix, the leading provider of object storage solutions to the broadcast and media industries, has partnered with Resilio, the leader in data synchronis...
04/10/2022
Five Reasons to Revisit your Disaster Recovery Plan
With rolling blackouts predicted just as the post sector hits its busiest period, it's time to review your disaster recovery plans With the post-COVID backl...
23/09/2022
Object Matrix Announce Extended Hybrid Workflow Options
Cardiff, Wales, 22nd September 2022 Further to our recent announcement on the 1st September regarding the expansion of our technical partner network, we are p...
08/09/2022
Object Matrix and Hiscale partner to deliver a scalable transcoding and media archive solution
Object Matrix, the leading provider of object storage solutions for the media in...
08/09/2022
Object Matrix and Drastic Technologies partner to provide enhanced automated workflows for the media industry
Object Matrix, the leading provider of object storage solutions for the media in...
07/09/2022
Object Matrix partners with Pebble for efficient multi-channel playout
Object Matrix, the leading provider of object storage solutions to the media industry, has partnered with Pebble, a leader in the highly specialised and mission...
06/09/2022
Seagate Technology & Object Matrix join forces to offer scalable storage solutions
Object Matrix Ltd, the award-winning software company that pioneered object stor...
05/09/2022
Object Matrix and MASV join forces to provide an integrated file transfer storage solution for the broadcast and media industry
Object Matrix, the leading provider of object storage solutions for the media in...
01/09/2022
Object Matrix Expands Partner Network with New Technical Integrations
Object Matrix Expands Partner Network with New Technical Integrations Cardiff, Wales, 1st September 2022 Object Matrix has announced a series of new technical...
26/07/2022
Why are Hybrid Workflows the Future for Media & Sports Content Asset Management?
Written by Carole Pigeard, Sales Director at Newsbridge and Nick Pearce, Co-Founder of Object Matrix. If organizations weren't taking media asset contingen...
26/07/2022
How Much Will Your Bad Storage Habits Cost Your Facility?
As media companies move toward cloud storage, ideas about storage and infrastructure strategy are evolving. Traditional storage tiers are becoming less defined,...
21/07/2022
Whisper Cymru Protects and Shares Sports Series Footage Using MatrixStore Cloud from Object Matrix
Supporting the British and Irish Lions Tour South Africa Cardiff, Wales, UK, 21s...
14/07/2022
Televisin Nacional de Chile (TVN) replaces LTO archive with MatrixStore object storage
Object Matrix is proud to announce Televisi n Nacional de Chile (TVN), a Chilean...
11/07/2022
5 Steps to Finding your Perfect Object Storage Partner
There are many reasons why you would feel that now is the right time to find a new home for your media assets. Perhaps your Editor's time is taken up by d...
09/06/2022
Modernising Your Archive with DIVA & MatrixStore
Everybody Still Loves a DIVA Object Matrix has a very long-standing relationship with both the Telestream Diva application and the fantastic team behind it. Thi...
25/05/2022
Backing Up your Brain with MatrixStore Object Storage
During most creative workflows there is a brain-like entity controlling what goes where and when. Be that a MAM, DAM, or PAM, it holds the keys to all the secre...
11/05/2022
Object Matrix & IVORY Celebrate 10 Years of Partnership
Object Matrix and IVORY are celebrating ten years of business partnership together. The combination of expertise and talent of both organisations has helped con...
04/05/2022
Object Matrix in Las Vegas: SVG Chairman's Forum
In December 2021, I was super miserable at having to miss the SVG event in New York due to UK/USA travel restrictions. I could have gone, but then the chance of...
29/04/2022
The Perfect Number Category Nominations for the Storage Awards
We are thrilled to have been nominated in six of this year's Storage Awards categories. At Object Matrix, our team place the highest importance on ensuring ...
28/04/2022
Object Matrix and Storage Made Easy Partner to Empower Media And Entertainment Asset Management Workflow Efficiencies
The combination of MatrixStore, the object storage solution for the media indust...
22/04/2022
Object Matrix to Showcase Matrixstore and Vision Updates at NAB Show 2022
Cardiff, Wales, UK, 22nd April 2022 Object Matrix will share the latest enhancements and updates to its Matrixstore and Vision solutions, alongside its US par...