Contextualizing digital reformatting in the history of preservation knowledge: timeline and research directions

Abstract

This research builds a timeline of the development of preservation knowledge drawn from key texts in the field of the history of preservation in order to establish the larger historical and cultural trends shaping digital reformatting as a sociotechnical practice in information institutions. The timeline integrates key events, inventions and standards in the development of preservation knowledge from the 19th century to the present time, and charts and periodizes particular intellectual trends that integrate technological and institutional change into the development of preservation knowledge, focusing primarily on the U.S. context. From these trends, the author identifies a potential area of future research on digital reformatting that draws on perspectives from research in the sociology of standards.