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The ephemeral nature of digital media presents a challenge for the long-term retention of electronic records. Government, academia, and the private sector increasingly recognize the barriers to ensuring that documents survive changes in storage, computer hardware, software, and ever-changing formats. The records must be maintained free from tampering so that they remain authentic and able to stand for the facts reliably year after year over time. They must be able to support growing amounts of e-commerce and e-government activity.

The preservation challenge follows three tracks:

  • intellectual preservation--addressing the authenticity and integrity of the information as originally recorded and stored;
  • media preservation--addressing the media on which the information is stored such as tapes, disks, optical disks, CD-ROMS, etc.; and
  • technology preservation--addressing strategies such as migration and emulation strategies for helping digital objects persist over time.

Whatever the system, preservation measures require a closely audited, well documented, and constantly updated system. Many researchers (Berthon and Webb, 2000; Dollar, 1997; Duranti, 1995; and MacNeil, 2000) continue to explore these challenging issues in digital preservation.