preserving Europe's digital data for future generations

ICT research: preserving Europe's digital data for future generations

Excerpt from the website...

Tools developed using EU funds to ensure that digitally stored data
can be preserved, accessed and understood for the indefinite future
are now available in the form of open source software.
The EU's CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for
Preservation, Access and Retrieval) research programme involved
researchers from the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel, Italy
and the UK. This work complements initiatives such as Europeana,
the European digital library (see MEMO/10/166). The EU has
contributed € 8.8 million of the €15 million total cost of the project
under the European Commission's research funding programme
(Sixth Framework Programme 2001-2006). Until now large
volumes of electronic data such as official records, museum archives
and scientific results have been unreadable or at risk of loss because
newer technologies could not read it or allow current users to
understand it. Application of ICT research to benefit Europe's citizens
and businesses is a key element of the Digital Agenda for Europe adopted
by the Commission in May 2010
(see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200)....