Critically Endangered
Digital materials are listed Critically Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation, there are no agencies responsible for them or those agencies are unwilling or unable to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Always Online Games
Video games that are required to be continuously online. Gameplay is referenced here particularly as means of participation, along with social media and in-game interaction between players. This can include Massively Multiplayer Online games and single player games with always-on DRM.
Commercial Software
Computer software that is produced for sale or that serves commercial purposes, including previous editions and versions of software that are not available or no longer in use. This entry broadly includes proprietary software, access through licences or subscription business models.
Community-generated Content in Arts and Heritage
Digital materials produced and shared in and by ad-hoc community art and heritage projects, typically through digitization, where the creation of digital materials was a significant purpose of the initiative.
Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use
Social media platforms free at the point of use with a business model based on reselling user data for consumer behavior and/or advertising analysis, mainly for profit-driven corporations. This entry broadly includes digital content created, shared and hosted on social media platforms as well as current interfaces of social media platforms.
Correspondence and Informal Records of Research
Correspondence and other records which describe the configuration and delivery of research, but which are ancillary to the core research outputs, including reviews, drafts and correspondence between researchers.
Data Posted to Defunct or Little-used Social Media Platforms
Older or less widely used social media platforms to which content has been uploaded but for which no guarantees have been made about the long term.
Digital Archives from Public Enquiries and Commissions
Data from public enquiries and reconciliation commissions which can be traumatic, politically uncomfortable and contested, typically comes in many different forms and formats. Data protection issues and cultural sensitivities only amplify the challenge to preservations.
Digital Archives of Community Groups
Digital materials including ephemera, correspondence and campaign materials created as a by-product of small scale or ad-hoc community action groups.
Digital Archives of Music Production
Digital materials created by musicians and fans as a by-product of performance or recording, not otherwise published or shared. The use of ‘archives’ in this context refers to music production data that is in an archive.
Digital Evidence and Records of Investigation Prior to Court
Digital materials assessed by police and other authorities in the course of investigation and retained as evidence of due process such as case files and correspondence, including materials not submitted to court.
Evidence in Court
Digital materials presented in court as evidence or documents such as rulings and proceedings generated through legal proceedings
Exhibition Content
Born-digital or hybrid-digital content that was created and/or commissioned for exhibitions and has not been accessioned into the collection. This category is considered as an object or a 'work' in its own right, and not interpretive materials.
Family or Personal Records
Digital content and communications generated for personal consumption in a domestic setting. These records are highly valuable to family members and those interested in genealogy. They can also have wider historical/research significance to collecting institutions.
Games with Offline Play Components
This entry is focused on games that can be played offline, often those designed for single player play while in offline mode. This does not exclude games that can be played online or have online interactive components (e.g., Sims 3 can be played online or offline), but rather the focus is on the preservation of offline single player components over the online components.
Games with Online Play Components
Video games with online components that have online elements for interactive aspects of play, in particular those with online multiplayer components. This does not exclude games that have both online multiplayer and offline single player components (e.g., Dark Souls has online multiplayer components but also has the ability for single player play in offline mode) but rather the focus on the entry is on the online components for interactive play and there is more potential to preserve the interaction. This excludes games that are no longer available legally.
Grey Literature
Semi-published research outputs such as blogs, dissertations, informal conference papers or commissioned reports which are not formally published but which can contain original and insightful contributions within scholarly communications. This entry covers a wide spectrum of very diverse types of materials which all have different preservation considerations.
Legacy Research Web Collections
Research related collections of digital content on the web which are now outdated and/or no longer actively maintained. This can include software and published or unpublished source code.
Manuals, Documentation, and Associated Materials
Manuals that support physical, born-digital, and hybrid-digital museum objects, including technical manuals and that may contain diagrams, images, videos and more. Manuals may include those specifically created for the object, and/or from the supplier or manufacturer (and may exist for the entire object, or for each component part). Covered here is other documentation critical for the management, preservation, access, and display of collections objects, including conservation records. Associated materials (such as sidecar or other technical files) can provide insight into the digital content held in the collection. Encompassed in this entry is both information for internal use, supporting outgoing loans, as well as an information source for current and future researchers.
Media Art by Deceased Artists or Defunct Workshops
Media art where the artists or creative technicians are either deceased or not able to provide guidance on authenticity and installation.
Media Inside Paper Files
Media inside paper files occurred in records since the 1980s and will continue to do so for many years.
Native Cloud Formats
This entry covers all native cloud formats that exist within a cloud system but cannot be exported in their native format. The data for these formats is held within the system and they are rendered within a browser.
Non-current Hard Disk Technologies
Materials saved to storage devices with a variety of underlying magnetic or solid-state technologies that are hardwired into a computer that is no longer under warranty or supported: typically, hard disks more than five years old.
Non-current Portable Magnetic Media
Materials saved to floppy disks, tape, portable hard disks or other numerous magnetic storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.
Non-current Portable Optical Media
Materials saved to DVDs, CDs or other optical storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.
Non-current Portable Solid State Media
Materials saved to flash or other solid-state storage devices where the media is out of warranty and reader devices may no longer be supported or integrated easily into hardware infrastructure: typically, more than five years old.
Open Source Intelligence Sources of Current Conflicts
Open source intelligence produced, collected and analysed from publicly, openly available social media and web content with the purpose of answering a specific intelligence question and that supports crowd-sourced investigation and fact-checking to verify or refute claims of state agencies and rebel groups in the context of current political or military conflict.
Politically Sensitive Data
Digital content where the knowledge to preserve exists, and there is no threat to obsolescence, but where political interests may be served by elimination, falsification or concealment.
Pre-WWW ViewData and TeleText Services where no Archival Agency has Captured and Retained the Signal
Pre-WWW television information services broadcast within the TV signal that allowed a degree of search and retrieval of up-to-date information, based on Teletext or ViewData technologies and variants.
Records of Local Government
Records from local government (i.e., below the state level) which are required for transparency and may be in many diverse forms, but in which the local authority may lack the capacity to manage the complex digital preservation requirements that arise.
Records of Non-Governmental Agencies
Records of independent agencies and contractors that act on behalf of the state in the delivery of public services, and which may be present in many diverse forms, but for which the NGO or contractors may lack the capacity to meet the complex digital preservation requirements that arise, or may have a business motive to minimize or ignore requirements for the maintenance of the record.
Records of Quasi Non-Governmental Agencies
Records from agencies at arms-length to government whether locally, nationally or internationally. They may be required to maintain archives for the purposes of transparency, sometimes for extended periods, and sometimes in diverse and complicated forms.
Smart TV Apps
Apps created for smartphones. Many are deprecated quickly but others survive through multiple update cycles. It is hard to maintain version control and often dependent upon the company that publishes them. There is no clear agency or mandate to record or collect.
Smartphone Apps
Applications created for smartphones. Many are deprecated quickly but others survive through multiple update cycles. It is hard to maintain version control and is often dependent upon the company that publishes them. There is no clear agency or mandate to record or collect.
Unpublished Research Data
Data sets produced in the course of research but never shared or made available outside of the initial research team.
Unpublished Research Data from Government Researchers
Data sets and research outputs produced in the course of government research but never shared or made available outside of the initial research. In particular, the risk classification applies to research data under government embargo, restrictions due to sensitivities, classification issues, and/or materials suppressed for ideological reasons.
Web Domains with no Legal Deposit
This entry regards the preservation of websites and domains that fall outside a remit of legal deposit (or no legal deposit mandate exists). Web archiving is able to capture large quantities of materials with routine and standards-based tools, but there are significant issues arising with intellectual property rights associated with website capture and republication. In many jurisdictions, but by no means all, those obstacles are overcome by regulations that enable a national library or other ‘legal deposit’ agency to copy and preserve content. Where no such permission exists, there is a significant risk of loss.