Digitisation Policy for the Western Cape Government and Municipalities in the Western Cape Province
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- Human-readable records A record
- Infringement (of copyright)
- Copyright
- Intellectual property rights
- Migration
- Moral rights
- National Digital Repository (NDR)
- Records
- Optical character recognition (OCR)
- Original record
- Provincial Digital Repository (PDR)
- Public record
- Repository
- Metadata
- Scanning
- Surrogate
Head of the Service Official appointed in terms of the Public Service Act to head the Western Cape and Archives Service. Heritage The term “heritage” is defined in the White Paper on Arts and Culture (1996) as “the sum total of wildlife and scenic parks, sites of scientific and historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections and their documentation which provides the basis for a shared culture and creativity in the arts.” (Section 12). Heritage resources Section 3(2) of the National Heritage Resources Act (Act No. 25 of 1999) defines any place or object of cultural significance as a heritage resource, including: (a) Places, buildings, structures and equipment of cultural significance; (b) Places to which oral traditions are attached or which are associated with living heritage; (c) Historical settlements and townscapes; (d) Landscapes and natural features of cultural significance; (e) Geological sites of scientific or cultural importance; (f) Archaeological and paleontological sites; (g) Graves and burial grounds, including— (i) Ancestral graves; (ii) Royal graves and graves of traditional leaders; (iii) Graves of victims of conflict; (iv) Graves of individuals designated by the Minister by notice in the Gazette; (v) Historical graves and cemeteries; and (vi) Other human remains, which are not covered in terms of the Human Tissue Act, 1983 (Act No. 65 of 1983);
(i) Objects recovered from the soil or waters of South Africa, including archaeological and paleontological objects and material, meteorites and rare geological specimens; (ii) Objects to which oral traditions are attached or which are associated with living heritage; (iii) Ethnographic art and objects; (iv) Military objects; (v) Objects of decorative or fine art; (vi) Objects of scientific or technological interest; and (vii) Books, records, documents, photographic positives and negatives, graphic, film or video material or sound recordings, excluding those that are public records as defined in section 1(xiv) of the National Archives of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act No. 43 of 1996). Human-readable records A record that is intelligible without the assistance or mediation of a machine; for example, a manuscript, a drawing, a print, a hand-written letter, and such like. Indigenous knowledge (IK) Knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. In contrast with the international knowledge system generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. It forms the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other everyday activities in, largely rural communities. IK is distinguished by the fact that it is orally transmitted and is widely shared. Information Society A people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented society where everyone can create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life. Infringement (of copyright) Infringement of copyright can lead to the awarding of damages to the injured party, injunctions on further use, loss of trust for institutions/organisations, the destruction or removal of infringing copies. Integrated pest management (IPM) IPM uses a range of preventative measures to control pests that threaten archival records; thereby, reducing the traditional reliance on toxic and ecologically damaging chemicals. IPM’s focus is to control rodent and insect infestation by denying them access to a building and making the building (and surrounds) as inhospitable to insects and rodents as possible. One of the components of IPM includes an extensive good housekeeping program; another component is a comprehensive building maintenance program. Intellectual property (IP) The concept of intellectual property (IP) is intended to give recognition to- and protection for the creative output of human mind. IP confers a form of ownership interest in human intellectual output, and allows owners of IP to exercise control lover the future use of a work. IP grants owners the opportunity to exploit their creation by passing IP rights onto others. Categories recognised under intellectual property include: inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. Government texts are considered to be automatically in the public domain and are excluded. Copyright legislation is considered to be outdated, compared to recent developments with electronic media; IP makes use of more recent development in law and policy associated with copyright issues, such as trademarks and the management of electronic records. IP has the potential to provide considerable protection to cultural heritage, as it protects the rights of the producer. IP can be used in the developing world to develop cultural heritage through the protections it affords. Intellectual property rights Rights associated with intellectual property include the rights to reproduce (e.g. photography and scanning), adapt or create derivatives (e.g. translations), perform in public, distribute (e.g. lend, rent or loan copies to the public), display in public. Metadata Information about other information. For example, information contained in a library catalogue is considered to be metadata (about the books in the library). Metadata, as a term, is most commonly used to describe electronic data that describes electronic records, e.g. date of creation, program on which the record was created, and such like. Data describing context, content and structure of records, and their management through time. Metadata is used for records management, retrieval and use. Migration The process of transforming an electronic record from one encoding format to another, most usually by transferring it to a newer version of software and/or hardware. The most usual reason for migration is to transfer records to newer generations of computers, so that the records they contain can continue to be accessed by later generations of digital technology. The fast development and marketing of newer versions of electronic soft- and hardware, means that the older versions of programs quickly become obsolete. This feature is referred to as digital obsolescence. The average rate of digital obsolesce through technological and programming improvements is increasingly shorter. Migration techniques are active preservation method which constitute a change to the nature of the record, and entail a risk of information loss that must be clearly identified and managed. Moral rights The ability of an author (or creator) of a work to control the eventual fate of their work(s). Moral rights serve to protect the personal and reputational rights of its creator. Moral rights are a bundle of rights that include: the creator’s right to receive or decline credit for his/her work (paternity), to prevent her/his work from being altered, displayed or utilised without the author’s permission (integrity). Moral rights are separate from, but complimentary to copyright; as misuse of a work can give rise to a claim of copyright infringement. Moral rights cannot extend beyond the term of copyright (author’s lifetime plus 50 years) and may terminate earlier. Moral rights die with the person Moral rights are distinct and separate from copyright. Moral rights are essentially personal rights and not economic rights. Moral rights are analogous and closely allied to personality rights under common law. Personality rights are only enforceable by the person concerned, and are not transferrable (e.g. to heirs as copyright is). Personality rights concern the honor or reputation of an individual, as well as the right to control the use of his or her identity. National Digital Repository (NDR) A digital repository which contains digital heritage in the national interest and which is managed in accordance with strict standards and practices to ensure authenticity and integrity of the digital content. Non-archival records Records of a short-lived interest or usefulness; also known as ephemeral records. Non-Public Record Recorded information, regardless of the form or medium thereof, created or received by a private individual or a body other than a body defined as a governmental body. Records donated to the archives by members of the public and non-governmental organisations or institutions. Obsolescence The increasing rate of technological advancement in the computing field results in hard- and software increasingly becoming out of date (or “obsolete”) within an increasingly shorter time span. It means that certain file types and images cannot be opened or accessed by later generations of hard- and software. This is a concern, as it means that much information in digital or electronic form may be rendered useless as it cannot be read by later technology. This issue had been a concern for cultural institutions since the start of digital record keeping. Cultural institutions have to plan for obsolescence by ensuring that electronic records are migratable across successive generations of software. See associated entries: digital obsolescence, migration. Ontology A structure of knowledge as used for the construction of common category systems and vocabularies such as thesauri and authority files. Open Access Access to information resources free of limitations or in which some communities of users may have preferred access over others. Open Content A form of publishing of works that is published under a license that allows anyone to copy, modify or use the information. Open Source A means of producing and maintaining software programs in which the source code is provided and which is provided free of proprietary licenses. Optical character recognition (OCR) Software programs that enable the searching of a scanned image of a printed or typewritten document. The software has the ability to recognise certain keywords appearing in the text. Scanned images of printed or typewritten documents are then able to be searched, greatly enhancing the value of the information and the scanned image. Currently, no commercially successful program exists to read manuscript or handwritten records, in the same way as printed or typewritten text. Original record An accessioned record, which may be in a physical or electronic format, from which a copy or surrogate can be made. In certain instances, an accessioned record is itself a surrogate; e.g. a microfilm. In this case the accessioned record is considered to be the original. Orphaned works Works of art, journals, letters, photographs, and other records, found in collections, for which no owner can be identified. Orphaned items present a problem with regard to the management of digital rights within cultural heritage institutions worldwide. Orphaned works need to be catered for when devising digital rights management strategies, exhibition and loan policies, etc. Preservation Measures aim to prevent, retard or halt deterioration of archival records and other cultural property. Preservation is considered to be integral to the functioning of any given archives or heritage institution. Preservation measures touch on a variety of actions and functions within any given archives or heritage institution. Preservation measures include: maintaining clean and safe storage conditions for records; ensuring that pests and other threats to the collections are mitigated for; that correct handling of records is adhered to by staff and clients; that the building fabric is kept in a sound state of repair; that the use of appropriate protective enclosures for fragile records occurs, etc. Privacy Privacy and confidentiality are often thought of as the same and the terms are often used interchangeably. However, confidentiality is a separate legal concept where information is given to a person under an obligation to keep the information confidential (for example, a trade secret, or information confided to someone). Confidential information is usually not available or readily accessible to the public, and may be information which is not recorded in some form. Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) The division in the Western Cape Archives and Records Service who is responsible for the safe and secure preservation of the digital masters created or received by a governmental body in pursuance of its activities. All digital masters that are appraised as having archival value must be transferred to this repository. These digital masters must be managed in accordance with strict standards and practices to ensure authenticity and integrity of the digital content. Public record Recorded information, regardless of the form or medium thereof, created or received by a governmental body in pursuance of its activities. Record Recorded information, regardless of the form or medium thereof or evidence of a transaction preserved for the evidential information it contains. Recording Anything on which sounds or images (or both) are fixed; or, from which sound or images (or both) are capable of being reproduced, regardless of form. See entry on technology-dependent record. Refreshment The process of exactly copying the content of an electronic storage media to another medium of the same or different type. This may be undertaken as a result of physical damage to the medium, or in advance of technological obsolescence. It does not constitute a change to the electronic record itself. Repository See entry for archives repository. A repository is typically used in the context of archives repositories. Within the context of this policy this term is primarily concerned with digital repositories. Restoration An older word used to describe conservation; “restoration” is often used interchangeably with conservation. However, restoration is a deliberate attempt to return a damaged object or item to its original (or, “perfect”) state; many of the assumptions regarding how an original painting, book or document may have looked like have subsequently been found to be incorrect. This has meant that “restoration” has often led to damaging and incorrect repairs. The concept of restoration also lies uncomfortably close to fakery; world-wide, unscrupulous persons have been known to attempt to pass of restored objects as un-restored originals, greatly enhancing their potential market-place value. As both a term and concept restoration is heavily out of favour within the heritage preservation sector worldwide. Rather, conservation is now the preferred approach to the repair of historic and heritage objects. Conservation seeks to halt deterioration, by repairing only what is damaged and not entering into any restorative practises. Rights management Items in cultural and historical collections have legal rights, which affect how they can be used. These rights are separate from the rights of ownership. Institutions have a professional obligation to manage the rights associated with their collections. The management of rights within any given institution should include a rights management policy that will specify how the institution is to go about managing these rights. For example with regard to copyright, intellectual property (IP), rights pertinent to digitised and digitally-born records. A survey to determine the nature of these rights will need to be conducted within the institution to determine the rights applicable. Metadata accompanying the digital record will also have to include information on rights (e.g. ownership and licensing information). Scan right A preservation-orientated approach for the scanning of paper-based records. Paper records are to be scanned at the highest possible quality image. This will ensure that fragile paper-based records do not have to be repeatedly scanned in order to ensure high quality images. The once-off scanning process minimises the damage that would otherwise occur to documents repeatedly subjected to the scanning process. Scanning The process of converting analogue artifacts into digital form using optical scanning equipment or similar equipment. This can be done in two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) format. For the purposes of intellectual property rights, the scanning process is not considered a skilled enough process, to warrant a scanned image to be considered as being a new or unique creation. Thus, scanned images are considered to be derivative. .
Surrogate A copy or reproduction used in the place of the original record. See under definition of copy. Technology-dependent record A record that is dependent on the mediation of a machine and/or other technology such as software in order to be experienced or rendered intelligible; for example, audio-visual records and electronic records. Thesaurus A structured taxonomy of terms that are used for categorisation and classification. Vital/Essential records Records that protect the enduring civil, legal, financial, property and other rights of the citizens of a country. Additionally, they are the records needed to continue operational responsibilities under disaster conditions. As well as, being records that protect the legal and financial rights of the government. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berne Convention - international agreement governing copyright, 1886
Moral rights basics. Available on: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property/library/ moralprimer.html. Accessed 3 October 2011. UNESCO Charter Directory of Open Access Journals. www.doaj.org. Minimum Information Security Standards, NIA.
Maintained by the California Digital Library, August 2011, Reviewed and Updated Semi-Annually http://www.cdlib.org/gateways/docs/cdl_dffr.pdf Accessed 3 August 2012.
1 The provisions are: that the Head of the Service must determine the conditions subject to which public records may be electronically reproduced, section 9(2)(b)(ii). As with other public records, the legislation provides that electronic records may not be disposed of without the written authorisation of the Head of the Service (section 9(2) (a)). The legislative provisions regarding archival custody take the special needs of electronic records into account, in that while public records that have been appraised as having archival value are to be transferred to archival custody after 20 years, the Head of the Service may in consultation with the head of a governmental body identify records which should remain in its custody or should be transferred to archival custody at an earlier time (section 6(2)(b)). ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 72 Roeland Street, Private Bag X9025, Cape Town 8000 Cape Town, 8001 web: www.westerncape.gov.za Cultural Affairs and Sport : ImiCimbiyeNkcubekonezembiDlalo : Kultuursake en Sport DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013 1 Directory: images -> resources images -> News items from Raising Our Voices images -> Last year four of the best Afrikaans Christian singers joined forces to tour Down Under with the production ‘Manne wat Glo’ images -> World-renowned vocal ensemble sweet honey in the rock images -> Peoples Voice Café History resources -> Sip project Report Format Introduction resources -> An overview of land evaluation and land use planning at fao resources -> Professor d. S. O. Osiru department of crop science makerere university resources -> Ellis paul discography, Published Works, Awards and Accomplishments resources -> Best Practices Report on Promotion of Translations resources -> Brian m doser Download 298.72 Kb. Share with your friends:
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