Abstract
A major challenge in creating digital collections that will survive for a long time is to build systems defined broadly as ‘digital repositories’ that maintain functionality and quality intrinsic to images. It is imperative that the parties involved in creating digital repositories are clear about the difference between ‘archival’ and ‘deliverable’. An archival file has a very low risk factor, meaning that we are confident that neither its integrity nor its functionality will be lost when the format must be migrated in order to remain compatible with image processing applications. A deliverable file can have the same image quality, but depending on file format and compression choices, there is a higher risk of obsolescence, but not total loss if an archival version has also been created and saved. There are various possible scenarios to be looked at when considering the costs of such an endeavor, the main two being payment by file size and payment by traffic/access of the files.


Franziska Frey is Assistant Professor at the School of Print Media at Rochester Institute of Technology. She teaches courses in materials and processes for printing, image database design, and digital asset management. She is also a Faculty in the "Mellon Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation" at George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography. Franziska Frey received her Ph.D. degree in Natural Sciences (Concentration: Imaging Science) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland in 1994. Before joining the faculty of the School of Print Media, she has worked as a research scientist at the Image Permanence Institute at RIT. Her work has primarily focused on establishing guidelines for viewing, scanning, quality control, and archiving digital images. Franziska publishes, consults, and teaches in the US and around the world on various issues related to establishing digital image databases and digital libraries. She is also actively involved in several international standards groups.