The Role of Metadata in the Longevity of Cultural Heritage Resources

Abstract

Digital preservation is an integral part of the management of information and the institutions in the cultural heritage sector are seeking for ways to incorporate it into their everyday practice. While there are generic approaches to long-term preservation, further research and development work is needed to address any specifics of the digital objects in the cultural heritage domain. In this paper, we will take two case studies of recent projects and analyse to what extent the metadata accompanying digital objects contribute to guarantee longevity. We summarize this analysis in two scenarios for sustainability of resources produced by small projects because compared to big institutions their digital assets are facing a higher risk not to be preserved properly. We also identify processes where natural language technologies could be of help to make the preservation more efficient.