Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Clarification of Library Survey Terms

Listed below are definitions for terms used in the FDsys Library survey that some respondents indicated needed additional clarification. Questions regarding this information should be submitted to the Office of Innovation and New Technology at int@gpo.gov.

Push: Intentionally and specifically serving out information to a target recipient(s).
Content is automatically sent (“pushed”) from GPO to a list of interested users. This is analogous to shipping a box of depository documents, only with electronic content instead of tangible copy.

Pull: Downloading content on an as-needed basis.
Content is made available for users to select and retrieve (“pull”) to local servers or computers. For example, currently users may be said to pull documents from GPO Access.

Migration: Preservation of digital content, where the underlying information is retained but older formats and internal structures are replaced by newer.
Migration involves transforming files to ensure that they can be accessed using current hardware and software. The content is retained, but the file format changes as technology changes.
Example: a Microsoft Word 97 file is migrated to a Microsoft Word 2000 file.

Emulation: The imitation of one computing system by another system through the use of software and hardware that allow the latter to run programs written for the former.
Emulation involves re-creating an obsolete operating system or piece of software on an up to date operating system or piece of software. This allows the digital objects associated with the obsolete system to be accessed without changing the file format.
Example: Microsoft Word 97 is emulated on a current system so that files saved in Microsoft Word 97 format can be accessed.

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