3.4 petabytes of storage space were needed, as a Finnish collaboration undertook the challenge of preserving the country’s movies in digital form. The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency is main responsible, while CSC, the national IT Center for Science, is a key partner. On behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture, CSC hosts the Digital Preservation Services (DPS) which was the natural choice for the storage of audiovisual products.
“When we started to digitize film, it would have been impossible for KAVI (the former name of Finnish Arts and Culture Agency, ed.) to acquire and maintain a tape archive on its own. CSC has been a long-term and reliable partner for us. Our collaboration began already in 2008 when KAVI established the radio and television archive. Over the years, it has expanded and evolved into a very smooth partnership,” says Mikko Kuutti, Deputy Director, Audiovisual Culture Department, Finnish Arts and Culture Agency.
Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s first materials were transferred to the Digital Preservation Service for Cultural Heritage in 2016. Since a single movie can require more than 10 terabytes of storage space, the agency is the largest user of the service.
More than data storage
Notably, digital preservation differs from regular backup or storing data: it includes actively maintaining data. For example, CSC ensures that file formats are usable, that the data is enriched with sufficient metadata, and that all preservation actions are thoroughly documented to guarantee the data authenticity.
As devices, software, file formats, systems, and people inevitably change and become obsolete over time, continuity planning and risk management are essential parts of the DPS. Risks are mitigated, for example, by storing data in multiple geographically distributed locations and as several copies using different storage solutions. Due to the large data volume, the process is fully automated.
Today, more than half a billion digital cultural heritage and research data files are stored in the DPS. The amount equals about one billion photos or one million HD movies, and it increases constantly.
Involved in international efforts
22 museums, libraries, archives, universities, and research organizations under the Ministry of Education and Culture rely on DPS.
“The mission of DPS is simple, yet crucial for society: to ensure that research data and cultural heritage remain comprehensible and usable over time. Without DPS, parts of our culture and science could be lost forever,” says Kimmo Koivunen, Director, Cultural Heritage and Research Data Lifecycle Management at CSC.
Finland is recognized as a pioneer in the field, and CSC is strongly involved in the international preservation community, notes Koivunen:
“In ten years, the field has matured in Europe, and the focus has shifted from technological development, to, for example, sustainability. At the same time, global networks for digital preservation have become well established, and now also the needs of developing countries are taken into account. The change has been significant.”
The text is inspired by the article “Building Finland’s digital memory – 10 years of digital preservation” at the CSC website.
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