[plug] Fwd: Australia's history archived [through the use of XML and] OpenOffice.org

[James Devenish]

I don't usually post news, but there has been some discussion of OO.o on
this list recently.
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Australia's history archived in OpenOffice.org
Steven Deare
LinuxWorld
14/10/2003 14:20:32
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1991153367&fp=16&fpid=0

Australia's history will be viewed digitally in the OpenOffice.org office
suite as part of plans to preserve the quality and accessibility of
government documents.

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) is using the open source software
to help store and display archived documents from government agencies.

The decision to use OpenOffice.org came last November, at the beginning of
a project to develop methods for preserving digital records, said
Perth-based assistant project manager Simon Davis.

The Agency to Researcher Digital Preservation Project arose from a policy
change in 2000 which gave the NAA full custody of to-be-retained digital
records from government agencies.

The project team decided that using proprietary data formats for archiving
would not ensure files could be opened and replicated on the computer
systems of the future.

The NAA must archive some documents for 30 years, and the licensing costs
and IP issues associated with proprietary software were deemed too costly.

"Open source is really, really important to us because over time it means
we can retain data presentation," said Davis.

"Cross platform development is really important, because we can't say you
must have a Windows machine to access this file [in the archives]. Who
knows what platform most people will be using in 30 years time? So if you
have a Linux machine, for example, you should have equal access."

The introduction of OpenOffice.org was helped by the NAA's decision to use
XML as the format to which digital documents are converted for
preservation.

Davis said the project team then developed an XML tool for converting and
viewing archived documents, XENA (XML Electronic Normalising of Archives).

Based on open source code libraries, the Java-based GUI tool converts
documents to XML form.

"It can also render any XML schema it supports, and supports plug-ins to
help it work with more file types," he said.

Development of XENA involved writing viewers for many file types, including
obsolete ones, but OpenOffice.org reduced some of this work.

"We don't use XENA for viewing word [processing, spreadsheet, drawing and
presentation] documents because we haven't written a viewer that can show
documents as well as OpenOffice.org," said Davis.

For these documents, XENA creates a basic XML document and adds metadata.
XENA then sends content to OpenOffice.org, which converts the binary data
and sends XENA back the XML markup. XENA then "calls" OpenOffice.org to
display the document, said Davis.

The NAA will soon convert legacy archives via OpenOffice.org's XML format,
which will be "a significant amount of work", said Davis.

However, while this is the best way to display documents at present, the
NAA was not obliged to use OpenOffice.org forever, he said.

The NAA was "some way off" using OpenOffice.org on their desktop PCs, for
instance, he said.

"When the next version of [Microsoft] Office is released, the question will
be how well is XML support documented. Can they say there are the 300 tags
and if you want to manipulate, this is how you do it," he said.

"If Microsoft's XML is fully documented, then great, we might keep them and
OpenOffice.org both in the digital repository," he said.

The Mitchell, ACT-based secure digital repository houses master copies of
archived digital documents. The smallest of the four servers in the two
purpose-built rooms can hold three quarters of a terabyte, according to
Davis.

To help the NAA's XML strategy, Davis joined the Organization for the
Advancement of Structured Information Standards' Open Office XML Format
Technical Committee last year. The Committee consists of companies and
individuals around the world that communicate via a weekly teleconference
to further OpenOffice.org's XML capabilities.

"Sun [Microsystems] asked us to get involved. Basically my role is to make
sure it [the technical developments] suits the NAA, and help archival
purposes," said Davis.

"We'd hope many software vendors will use OpenOffice.org's XML in the
future, it's really good being fully documented," he said.

Davis said that before the project ends "around June", the NAA will
continue adding to XENA before making it available for download under the
GPL "sometime before Christmas". The application would be of benefit to
archival institutions, as well as private companies, around the world, he
said.

Davis estimated the general public would have to wait about five years
until archives in OpenOffice.org format would be available via the NAA's
Web site. http://www.naa.gov.au/

-- 
History is an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which
are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools
-- Ambrose Bierce

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at austarmetro.com.au


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