Requirements for Digital Preservation Systems: A Bottom-Up Approach
<http://www.arxiv.org/abs/cs.DL/0509018>

Authors: David S. H. Rosenthal, Thomas S. Robertson, Tom Lipkis, Vicky 
Reich, Seth Morabito

The field of digital preservation is being defined by a set of 
standards developed top-down, starting with an abstract reference model 
(OAIS) and gradually adding more specific detail. Systems claiming 
conformance to these standards are entering production use. Work is 
underway to certify that systems conform to requirements derived from
OAIS.

We complement these requirements derived top-down by presenting an 
alternate, bottom-up view of the field. The fundamental goal of these 
systems is to ensure that the information they contain remains
accessible 
for the long term. We develop a parallel set of requirements based on 
observations of how existing systems handle this task, and on an
analysis 
of the threats to achieving the goal. On this basis we suggest
disclosures 
that systems should provide as to how they satisfy their goals.

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