DuraCloud
Partners: New York Public Library; Biodiversity Heritage Library; Duraspace
The DuraCloud project is a pilot program that is exploring the use of cloud computing technologies to test the perpetual access to digital content. The pilot will focus on a new cloud-based service (DuraCloud) developed and hosted by the DuraSpace organization. Among the NDIIPP partners participating in the DuraCloud pilot program are the New York Public Library and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Cloud technologies use remote computers to provide local services through the Internet. DuraCloud will let an institution provide data storage and access without having to maintain its own dedicated technical infrastructure.
For the NDIIPP partners, it is not enough to preserve digital materials without also having strategies in place to make that content accessible. To that end, NDIIPP has been supporting access-oriented services that make it easier to share important cultural, historical and scientific materials with the world. To ensure perpetual access, valuable digital materials must be stored in a durable manner. DuraCloud will provide both storage and access services, including content replication and monitoring services that span multiple cloud-storage providers.
DuraCloud is a cloud-based service developed and hosted by the nonprofit organization DuraSpace. DuraCloud was developed with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in addition to the current support from NDIIPP.
Objectives:
- Explore the use of cloud computing technologies to test the perpetual access to digital content
- Allow institutions to provide data storage and access without having to maintain its own dedicated technical infrastructure.
- Explore strategies to help make content accessible in addition to providing preservation services.
More detailed project information can be found at the Project Web site
Highlights:
- News: NDIIPP and DuraSpace launch pilot
- DuraCloud: Managing Durable Data in the Cloud by Michele Kimpton presented at the NDIIPP Partners Meeting -- Washington, DC, June 2009 (PPT, 9.19 Mb)
- Podcast: Michelle Kimpton and Sandy Payette from the DuraSpace Foundation discuss the repository software solutions offered by the Dspace and Fedora communities, before exploring the implications of their recent announcement of a collaboration between the two organisations.
- Presentation: DuraCloud: A Service Provided by DuraSpace by Michele Kimpton and Sandy Payette presented at OR09 -- Atlanta, GA, May 2009 (PPT, 9.72 Mb)
