Combining the Technology and Response Results

Technology responsiveness for a community addresses a relevant scope of interest in technology developments. Chapter 2 discussed the results of the

investigation of technological change to identify the scope of interest in technology developments for digital preservation. In addition to identifying the characteristics of technological change and the cycle of technological change expressed by the innovation cycle, the outcomes of that investigation included a high-level technology framework of developments pertinent to digital preservation, an

inventory of technologies that are potentially relevant for digital preservation, and a process for prioritising technology developments that might be detected as

potentially relevant for digital preservation. The framework identified seven categories of technology-related developments: the object, collection, repository, platform, organisation, standards, and required competencies for the context in which digital content is managed. The technology inventory consisting of thirty-eight technologies and technological capabilities was developed through an analysis of technologies and technological capabilities required by the thirty-three functions

defined in the OAIS Reference Model. The three-step process for prioritising

potentially relevant technology developments included the definition of five priority criteria and three roles that an OAIS function plays in digital preservation (direct, enabling, and indirect), priorities assigned to OAIS functions based on the

application of the priority criteria and the definition of roles, and the prioritisation of the technologies on the inventory by association of technologies to prioritised OAIS functions. The combination of these results provides the means to detect, prioritise, and monitor technology developments relevant for digital preservation.

The technological change investigation also identified and evaluated information sources about technology developments.

The investigation of technology response types identified four technology response types (technology forecasting, technology assessment, technology transfer, and technology monitoring) and four associated outcomes (awareness, exploitation, prevention, and adaptation). Technology monitoring provides awareness and the starting point for the other three response types. Technology assessment enables prevention by identifying potentially negative implications of technology developments, a primary objective of technology assessments for digital preservation. Technology forecasting encourages the exploitation of positive implications of technology developments. Technology transfer supports the adaptation of technology developments for digital preservation. The technology response investigation also discussed that the human response to technology requires continual learning and competency building. The investigation concluded that technology responsiveness requires a combination of the four response types, and the technology response model for digital preservation reflects the strengths and intents of all four technology response types.

The innovation cycle provided a means for demonstrating how the results of the technological change and the technology response investigations were

combined to provide the starting point for the development of the technology response model for digital preservation.¹

1 The innovation cycle was introduced in Section 2.3.

The process of combining the

technological change and technology response results produced the technology

response cycle for digital preservation, as illustrated in Figure 4-1.² The mapping suggests the points in the innovation cycle when the technology responses should be applied and which technology development techniques would enable the technology responses.³

Figure 4-1. Technology response mapping for digital preservation.

Technology monitoring (I) is continual and harvests the broadest possible range of information sources (c). Technology forecasting (II) exploratory

techniques would be applied to identify technology developments that are emerging – invented, but not proven yet – to suggest technology developments using the technology framework (a) and informed by the prioritised list of technology developments (b). Technology assessment (III) would utilise the prioritised list of technology developments (b) to select candidates for technology assessment.

2 The innovation cycle illustrates the phases of development for a technology development. In Figure 4-1, the author of this thesis mapped the technological change and technology response results to the diagram of the classic innovation cycle that was adapted for use in Figure 2-1 in Section 2.3 on technology innovation.

3 One characterisation of the ideal cycle for responding to technological change identified early detection or anticipation, evaluation, and action and suggested that the objective of responding to technology should be to consider the range of possible technologies rather than select one. This perspective aligns with the objectives of technology responsiveness for digital preservation and assisted with the placement of the technology responses in the diagram. Bauer, et al, Second Order Consequences, 27-29.

Normative technology forecasting techniques would also be used to project the potential impacts of technology developments during a technology assessment.

Technology assessment (III) would occur when technology developments are proven but not yet widely disseminated. Suggestions for technology transfer (IV) candidates might be an outcome of technology assessments.

The technology response “act to avoid negative impacts on existing technologies” (V) was added to the diagram during this mapping of the

technological change and technology responses results. This response represents a specific form of the prevention (technology assessment) response that is known to the digital preservation community, most commonly in the form of avoiding obsolescence of file formats and which, in that form, has largely been addressed.

The investigation of technological change noted that technology developments may lead to the displacement of existing technologies. A technology assessment would determine the implications of an emerging technology for digital preservation as well as for existing technologies. As soon as monitoring detects indicators that an effort is being made to replace or enhance an existing technology, preparations should begin to avoid the impacts of obsolescence due to superseded technologies.

As noted in the discussion of the innovation cycle in Section 2.3, the technology innovation cycle focuses conceptually on one technology development at a time, while technological change occurs through complex interactions of cumulative technology developments. Therefore, the continual scan of technology developments would include tracking many developments simultaneously and the technology response cycle for digital preservation would be applied concurrently to technology developments. This layering of activities is the basis of comprehensive monitoring, assessment, and response for digital preservation.

This is the scenario envisioned for the technology response cycle for digital preservation as it wraps around the technology innovation cycle. The process begins with monitoring of technology developments using the inventory of technologies for digital preservation as a starting point. Continual monitoring would detect indicators of technology developments that have potential implications for digital preservation during the invention stage of an emerging technology. Indicators of an

invention might be a vendor announcement, a research report, or increasingly an entry in a technology-related Web blog.⁴

This process would repeat for the set of technology developments that are of potential interest, accumulating a store of information about technology

developments that through analysis might lead to the identification of previously undetected technology developments of interest. This scenario to illustrate the technology response cycle for digital preservation served as the impetus for the construction of the technology response model for digital preservation.

Once a technology development of potential interest is identified, monitoring would search for indicators that the technology development is shifting from the invention to the innovation stage.

Indicators of this shift might include a press release, an announcement, an article in a technical journal, a presentation at a conference, or a technical report. When that shift is detected, the information technology development would be nominated to the digital preservation community for the completion of a technology assessment.

The technology assessment would provide recommendations for digital

preservation community response to the technology. One recommendation might be that the technology development could be adapted for use by the digital

preservation community. Technology transfer would typically occur later in the technology development cycle when the implementation of the technology development has been demonstrated.

5

The term responsiveness suggests that the response will be timely, appropriate, and effective.