Archival application of digital forensics methods for authenticity, description and access provision
Christopher Lee · Comma · 2012
When acquiring born-digital materials, archivists must often extract digital materials from media in ways that reflect the rich metadata associated with records and ensure records' integrity. They must also allow users to make sense of materials and understand their context, while preventing inadvertent disclosure of sensitive data. There are a variety of methods and strategies from the field of digital-forensics that can aid this work. This paper discusses the development and application of digital forensics tools to improve the acquisition, management and access functions of archives. It reports on the BitCurator project, which is identifying current and desirable workflows of several archival institutions, as well as developing and testing tools to support the workflows. There are a variety of potential changes within the archival profession that are associated with adopting digital forensics tools and practices.