2. Archiving is preserving information over technologies
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Statement The main goal of archiving is to ensure access to information, as long as necessary, without being reliant on originating systems, technologies and media. Rational Unlike paper-based records, digital records can hardly be kept accessible by default for a long time because systems are replaced, formats become obsolete and physical media deteriorate. To keep the digital records accessible, they must be migrated periodically to both new systems, formats, and media. Because the new system or format often provides different formatting, preservation, or presentation options than the original ones, each of those migration points represents a moment of risk. The goal of digital archiving is to tackle these moments of risk and to prevent losing context and information value over time. This principle should drive the archival decisions behind extracting and reformatting the information when migrating, so the context and information value is preserved in the next period. Implications This principle implies that when trying to achieve long-term accessibility, it must be clear how preservation actions will affect the context and information value of the preserved content and whether this poses an acceptable risk. More specifically, digital archivists must ensure that they document all aspects of the original technological environment, which are crucial for understanding and reusing the archived information. These are often lost in the process of archiving and long-term preservation (f.ex original database management platforms, GUIs, technical architectures, etc.). Notes (if any)