Born-digital

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the book by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, see Born Digital.

The term born-digital refers to materials that originate in a

e-books and evolving digital music. Other terms that might be encountered as synonymous include "natively digital", "digital-first", and "digital-exclusive".[4][5]

Discrepancies in definition

There exists some inconsistency in defining born-digital materials. Some believe such materials must exist in digital form exclusively; in other words, if they can be transferred into a physical, analog form, they are not truly born-digital.[6] However, others maintain that while these materials will often not have a subsequent physical counterpart, having one does not bar them from being classified as 'born-digital'.[1] For instance, Mahesh and Mittal identify two types of born-digital content, "exclusive digital" and "digital for print", allowing for a broader base of classification than the former definition provides.[7]

Furthermore, it has been pointed out that certain works may incorporate components that are both born-digital and

digitized, further blurring the lines between what should and should not be considered 'born-digital.' For example, a digital video created may utilize historical film footage that has been converted.[8]
It is important to be aware of these discrepancies when thinking about born-digital materials and the effects they have. However, some universals do exist across these definitions. All make clear the fact that born-digital media must originate digitally. Also, they agree that this media must be able to be utilized in a digital form (whether exclusively or otherwise), while they do not have to exist or be used as analog materials.

Etymology

The term "born digital" is of uncertain origin. While it may have occurred to multiple people at various times, it was coined independently by web developer Randel (Rafi) Metz in 1993, who acquired the domain name "borndigital.com" then and sustained it as a personal website for 18 years until 2011. The domain is now owned by a web developer in New Zealand. The original website is archived here.

Examples of born-digital content

Grey literature and communications

Much of the grey literature that exists today are almost entirely conducted online, due in part to the accessibility and speed of internet communications.[9] As the products of the vast amount of information created by organizations and individuals on computers, data sets and electronic records must exist in the context of other activities.[10] Common content includes:

Media

[12]

Digital photography

PNG), Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), and raw image format.[14]

logo of Adobe illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a widely used graphic design and illustration software.

Digital art

Webcomics
, comics published primarily on the internet, are an example of exclusively born-digital art. Webcomics follow the tradition of user-generated content and may later be printed by the creator, but as they were originally disseminated through the internet, they are considered to be born-digital media. Many webcomics are published on existing social media websites, while others use webcomic-specific platforms or their own domains.

Electronic books

Kindle 2, Kindle 3, and Kindle 4 shown side-by-side
Different generations of the Amazon Kindle, an e-reader device

Kindle 2 with the Stephen King novelette Ur.[5] In recent years, however, the sale of e-books from traditional publishers has decreased, due in part to increasing prices.[18]
[19]

Logo of the twilight zone, 2019. Subtitle reads "hosted by Jordan Peele"
The Twilight Zone is a 2019 web-exclusive remake of the original television series with the same name.

Video recordings

Videos that are born-digital vary in type and usage. Vlogs, an amalgamation of "video" and "blog," are streamed and consumed on video-sharing websites such as YouTube.

Similarly, a

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, The Guild, and The Twilight Zone (2019)
.

Sound recordings

licensing limitations.[21] Another example is Radiohead's 2007 release In Rainbows, released initially as a digital download.[22]

The

albums, but it does show that this changing born-digital content is having a significant influence on sales and the industry.[23]

Other media

WebExhibits are websites that act as virtual museums for any variety of content. These often use both primary and secondary historical sources, maps, timelines, infographics, and other data visualizations to showcase the historical past. One example is Clio Visualizing History's Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution, a web exhibit about the American women's movement from the 1940s to the present. Clio Visualizing History was founded by Lola Van Wagenen in 1996 to meet the growing need for innovative history projects in multi-media platforms.

Journalism

As existing print publications migrated to born-digital releases, digital native news websites such as HuffPo and Buzzfeed News have grown substantially.[24] This trend toward web-exclusive content has seen the rise of "news applications," or news articles built with interactive features that cannot be replicated on print.[24] "News Apps" are often heavily data-driven, using interactive graphics custom-built for the story by a team of software specialists in addition to the core group of writers and editors.[25] Examples include Baltimore Homicides from The Baltimore Sun, Do No Harm from the Las Vegas Sun, and Snow Fall from The New York Times, which took a team of more than fifteen journalists, web developers, and designers to build.[24]

Key issues

Preservation

digital objects, preservation must be a continuous and regular undertaking, as these materials do not show the same signs of degradation that print and other physical materials do. Invisible processes such as bit rot can lead to irreparable damage.[26] In the case of born-digital content, deterioration can occur in the form of bit rot, a process in which digital files degrade over time, and link rot, a process in which URLs link to pages on the internet that are no longer available.[27] Incompatibility is also a concern, in regard to the eventual obsolescence of both hardware and software capable of making sense of the documents.[28]

image of floppy disk on desk
A floppy disk requires obsolete technology in order to read its stored content.

Many questions arise regarding what should be archived and preserved and who should undertake the job. Vast amounts of born-digital content are created constantly and institutions are forced to decide what and how much should be saved. Because linking plays such a large role in the digital setting, whether a responsibility exists to maintain access to links (and therefore context) is debated, especially when considering the scope of such a task.[29] Additionally, since publishing is not as delineated in the digital realm and preliminary versions of work are increasingly made available, knowing when to archive presents further complications.[30]

Relevance and accessibility

For digital libraries and repositories that are used as reference materials, such as PBS LearningMedia, which provides educational resources for teachers, staying relevance is of utmost importance.[31] The information must be factually accurate and include context,[28] while staying current to the website's main goals. As in the case of preservation, bit rot, link rot, and incompatibility negatively affect how users might access born-digital records, while mere functionality, e.g. video quality and legibility of any text, is also a concern. Additionally, considerations on how digital content can be inclusive of people with disabilities should be made, particularly in conjunction with assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech-to-text software. Access is also affected by licensing laws — the lack of ownership of their digital collections leaves libraries with nothing when their license expires, despite the costs already paid.[32]

Open Access logo with dark text for contrast, on transparent background
Open Access logo, designed by the Public Library of Science

Licensing

Laws created to protect the intellectual property were written for

archives and the subsequent need to make copies of born-digital materials, the laws of many countries have been changing, allowing for agreements to be made between these institutions and the rights holders of born-digital content.[33]

digitized works and prohibits the necessary bypassing of access control mechanisms to facilitate a transfer."[36]

Increasingly, institutions are more interested in subscribing to digital versions of journals, something observed as some scholarly journals have unbundled their print and electronic editions and allowed for separate subscription; these trends have created questions about the economic sustainability of print publication. Major journals such as the American Chemical Society have made significant changes to their print editions in order to cut costs, and many others predict an exclusively digital future.[37] The increasing subscription prices and predatory practices of scholarly journals, however, provided impetus for the Open Access Movement, which advocates for free, unrestricted access to scholarly papers.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b NDIIPP, "Preserving Digital Culture," Library of Congress.
  2. ^ "Born digital - Glossary - Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative". digitizationguidelines.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  3. ^ a b "born digital | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  4. ^ Susan S. Lazinger, "Issues of Policy and Practice in Digital Preservation," in Digital Libraries: Policy, Planning, and Practice, ed. Judith Andrews and Derek Law (Burlington: Ashgate, 2004), 100
  5. ^ a b Eaton, Lance (May 15, 2009). "Books born digital". Library Journal. 134 (9): 26.
  6. ^ "Introduction - Definitions and Concepts," Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine Digital Preservation Coalition.
  7. ^ G. Mahesh and Rekha Mittal, "Digital Content Creation and Copyright Issues,"[permanent dead link] The Electronic Library 27, no 4 (2008), 678.
  8. ^ Amy Friedlander, "Summary of Findings" in Building a National Strategy for Digital Preservation: Issues in Digital Media Archiving, Archived 2017-07-10 at the Wayback Machine Council on Library and Information Resources and Library of Congress, 2.
  9. ^ Danner, Richard A. (2004). "Issues in the Preservation of Born-Digital Scholarly Communications in Law". Duke Law Scholarship Repository. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Kenneth Thilbodeau, "Building the Archives of the Future," D-Lib Magazine 7, no. 2 (February 2001).
  11. ^ a b c d Archives, The National. "The National Archives - Homepage". The National Archives. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  12. ^ a b Erway, Ricky (November 2010). "Defining "Born Digital"" (PDF). OCLC. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  13. ^ "Digital outsells film, but film still king to some". Macworld. 2004-09-23. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  14. ^ "Digital image file types". users.wfu.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  15. ^ Gardiner, Eileen and Ronald G. Musto. "The Electronic Book." In Suarez, Michael Felix, and H. R. Woudhuysen. The Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 164.
  16. ^ Romano, "E-Books," 31.
  17. ^ Sarah Weinman, "Harlequin launches digital-only imprint. Will other big houses feel the romance?" Daily Finance, (November 10, 2009).
  18. ^ Rowe, Adam. "Traditional Publishing Ebook Sales Dropped 10% In 2017". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  19. ^ Romano, Frank. "E-Books and the Challenge of Preservation." Building a National Strategy for Digital Preservation: Issues in Digital Media Archiving. April 2002. Pg. 28
  20. ^ a b Samuel Brylawski, "Preservation of Digitally Recorded Sound" in Building a National Strategy for Digital Preservation: Issues in Digital Media Archiving, Archived 2017-07-10 at the Wayback Machine Council on Library and Information Resources and Library of Congress, 53.
  21. ^ a b D.J. Hoek, "The Download Dilemma," American Libraries (August/September 2009), 55.
  22. ^ Pareles, Jon (9 December 2007). "Pay What You Want for This Article".The New York Times. Retrieved 30 December 2007
  23. ^ a b "What Musical Artists are Winning in this Digital Decade?" USA Today (December 8, 2009).
  24. ^
    S2CID 114479438
    .
  25. ISBN 9781449330064
    .
  26. ^ NDIIPP et al., "International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation," Archived 2009-12-29 at the Wayback Machine 5.
  27. ^ Erway, Ricky (November 2010). "Defining "Born Digital"" (PDF). OCLC. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  28. ^ a b Light, Michelle (May 14, 2010). Designing a Born-Digital Archive. UC Irvine: "Time Will Tell, But Epistemology Won't: In Memory of Richard Rorty" A Symposium to Celebrate Richard Rorty's Archive. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  29. ^ Lyman, "World Wide Web," 41.
  30. ^ Richard A. Danner, "Issues in the Preservation of Born-digital Scholarly Communications in Law," Archived 2011-01-25 at the Wayback Machine Law Library Journal 96, no. 4 (2004), 601.
  31. ^ Livanos-Propst, Athina (February 14, 2019). "Developing Weeding Protocols for Born Digital Collections". Code4Lib Journal. 43.
  32. ^ Victor F. Calaba, "Quibbles 'n Bits: Making a Digital First Sale Doctrine Feasible," Archived 2010-07-06 at the Wayback Machine Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review 9, no. 1 (2002), 23-5
  33. ^ a b NDIIPP et al., "International," 154.
  34. ^ Lyman, "World Wide Web," 44.
  35. ^ Calaba, "Quibbles," 8.
  36. ^ Calaba, "Quibbles," 9.
  37. ^ John Timmer, "Print, beware! Publishers are "on the road" to pure digital," Ars Technica (August 13, 2009).
  38. PMID 27158456
    .
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