Difference between revisions of "About COPTR"

Latest revision as of 12:18, 27 January 2026

COPTR is a wiki based registry of digital preservation tools and workflows. It's main aim is to help practitioners discover preservation tools that might help them tackle particular preservation challenges. It can be browsed and searched directly by practitioners, or queried by other systems via an API.

Each tool in COPTR is categorised by the Lifecycle Stage it falls within, the (sub) Function it performs and by the Content Type that it operates on. It may also input and/or output specific file formats. For example, EpubCheck performs the Function Validation, it operates on EBook Content and has EPUB as an input format. COPTR can help by enabling you to browse to tools that meet a particular need - perhaps relating to a specific Content Type or Function.

COPTR also holds digital preservation workflows. Sharing a workflow is a great way to exchange digital preservation practice and enable conversations around tools and how they are used.

Watch these videos to find out more about how to use, and how to contribute to, COPTR.

How can I get involved?

COPTR is a wiki, which means anyone can edit it and your contributions are very welcome. All changes are tracked, so if a mistake is made, it can easily be undone. So don't hold back - please dive in a help make the information in COPTR better. Here are some suggestions:

Add a new tool to COPTR. Add a tool you're familiar with or check out this wish list of tools to add to COPTR.
Add a new workflow to COW. It doesn't have to be a finished workflow - a draft or proposal is still useful!
Correct or add more detail to existing entries - use the "Edit with form" option to do this. For example, you could:
- Check the Tool Status, especially where the status is not known.
- Flag¹ or fix up outdated details, like broken URLs.
- Flag¹ or remove text that does not meet the editorial guidelines (see Scope below).
- Add input or output formats. Ask for help (see below) if you need to create new File format entries.²

Beyond using, adding and updating the contents, you can also get involved by helping sustain and grow COPTR itself. Please take a look at the sustainability and governance sections below!

¹Need to add some guidance on how to flag these cases.

²Can this be made easier?

What is the scope of COPTR?

COPTR captures basic, factual details about a tool, what it does, how to find more information (relevant URLs) and references to user experiences with the tool. The scope is a broad interpretation of the term "digital preservation". In other words, if a tool is useful in performing a digital preservation function such as those described in the OAIS model or the DCC lifecycle model, then it's within scope of this registry.

In scope: Characterisation, visualisation, rendering, migration, storage, fixity, access, delivery, search, web archiving, open source software ->everything inbetween<- commercial software.
Out of scope: Digitisation, file creation

Crucially, the goal of COPTR is to help you find tools to try out, not tell you what tools to use. The right tool often depends on your specific context and goals. By linking tools to user experiences, workflows, and other records of practice, we hope it will be easier to find out what others are doing, and that this will help you evaluate what you need.

Beyond tools, there are a number of other 'registries' that are related to COPTR and interlinked with it such as the Just Solve The Problem File Formats Wiki for detailed file format information, and the PRONOM format identification registry. You can find more resources and registries on the Digital Preservation Awesome List.

Why does COPTR exist?

The digital preservation community had created a whole host of different tool registries that described preservation tools. Many people had also written blog posts about tools or organisations hosted web pages with lists of tools that tackled particular areas. There was lots of duplication between these lists and registries, but at the same time, each one often held tools that weren't described elsewhere. COPTR was built by bringing together and rationalising these other registries and lists. It was originally created in 2012 as a small activity within the Jisc funded SPRUCE Project (more info), and has been significantly developed since - most notably with an upgrade to Semantic Mediawiki in 2021.

It was inspired by the original Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources project (POWRR) Tools Grid and developed in partnership with the POWRR Project.

Governance

Currently COPTR does not have a community governance process in place.

It is supported by the Open Preservation Foundation (OPF) and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), who cover the basic aspect of hosting the service, taking backups, removing entries that are clearly off-topic spam or abusive. Other issues, such as guidelines or processes around content quality, scope, review (see e.g. responding to Main page/discussion) or major service changes (e.g. shifting to other platforms, or dealing with the sustainability issues outlined below) are not covered.

The staff of the OPF and DPC are not the target users for COPTR, so we would like to encourage community members who care about COPTR to help us find a way to improve this situation. Please join us or get in touch via the contact details below!

Sustainability

COPTR is stable, but has some sustainability issues. Please see the full details in this statement on the service status and sustainability.

Technical stuff

Data structures in COPTR - information on the COPTR data model and its maintenance
How COPTR Works - information on the technical setup of COPTR
How to use the COPTR data feed and API
Development plans

Organizational Contributions

Organisations who would like to contribute the contents of their tool registry to COPTR should:

Merge your own tool registry data with the new community registry (COPTR can help with this)
Remove your own registry and agree not to set up any new project owned registries/lists
Link to COPTR or expose the COPTR data by utilising the COPTR data feed
Contribute any effort you have in adding new tools over time, to the community registry

COPTR is aiming to concentrate information about digital preservation tools in one place, keep the information in the registry maintainable and current by pooling the community's effort in one place, and avoid the emergence of new registries.

Contact, feedback and questions

Email coptr@openpreservation.org if you have problems using the service, e.g. making sure you have a user account that works.

You can use Main page/discussion or the DigiPres.org GitHub discussion forums to provide open feedback or raise questions or issues with the service.

If you'd like some support, or you're just curious about COPTR, please consider joining the Preservation Registries Special Interest Group (PR-SIG) and coming along to one our online Collaboration Café calls.

COPTR Partners

COPTR was created and launched with the support of the Aligning National Approaches to Digital Preservation initiative and has been populated and maintained by members of the COPTR partner organisations:

Funding and development

COPTR was made possible by support from the Jisc funded SPRUCE Project and the Institute of Museum and Library Services funded Digital POWRR Project.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 __NOTOC__
-COPTR is a wiki based registry of digital preservation tools. It's main aim is to help practitioners discover preservation tools that will help them tackle particular preservation challenges. It can be browsed and searched directly by practitioners, or queried by other systems via an API.
+COPTR is a wiki based registry of digital preservation tools and workflows. It's main aim is to help practitioners discover preservation tools that might help them tackle particular preservation challenges. It can be browsed and searched directly by practitioners, or queried by other systems via an API.
 Each tool in COPTR is categorised by the [[Lifecycle Stages|Lifecycle Stage]] it falls within, the (sub) [[Tool Functions|Function]] it performs and by the [[Content Types|Content Type]] that it operates on. It may also input and/or output specific [[File_Formats|file formats]]. For example, [[EpubCheck]] performs the Function [[Validation]], it operates on [[EBook]] Content and has [[EPUB]] as an input format. COPTR can help by enabling you to browse to tools that meet a particular need - perhaps relating to a specific [[Content Types|Content Type]] or [[Tool Functions|Function]].
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 [[Video guides to using COPTR|Watch these videos to find out more about how to use, and how to contribute to, COPTR]].
-===How can I get involved?===
+==How can I get involved?==
 COPTR is a wiki, which means anyone can edit it and your contributions are very welcome. All changes are tracked, so if a mistake is made, it can easily be undone. So don't hold back - please dive in a help make the information in COPTR better. Here are some suggestions:
 *[[Add a tool to COPTR|Add a new tool to COPTR]]. Add a tool you're familiar with or check out this [[Wish list of tools to add to COPTR|wish list of tools to add to COPTR]].
 *[[Contribute your workflow to COW|Add a new workflow to COW]]. It doesn't have to be a finished workflow - a draft or proposal is still useful!
-*Correct or add more detail to existing entries - use the "Edit with form" option to do this. For example, you could add input or output formats. Ask for help (see below) if you need to create new [[File_Formats|File format]] entries.
+*Correct or add more detail to existing entries - use the "Edit with form" option to do this. For example, you could:
+** Check the [[:Category:Tool Status|Tool Status]], especially [[:Category:Unknown_Tool_Status|where the status is not known]].
+** Flag<sup>1</sup> or fix up outdated details, like broken URLs.
+** Flag<sup>1</sup> or remove text that does not meet the editorial guidelines (see ''Scope'' below).
+** Add input or output formats. Ask for help (see below) if you need to create new [[File_Formats|File format]] entries.<sup>2</sup>
-===What is the scope of COPTR?===
+Beyond using, adding and updating the contents, you can also get involved by helping sustain and grow COPTR itself. Please take a look at the sustainability and governance sections below!
+<sup>1</sup>Need to add some guidance on how to flag these cases.
+<sup>2</sup>Can this be made easier?
+==What is the scope of COPTR?==
 COPTR captures basic, factual details about a tool, what it does, how to find more information (relevant URLs) and references to user experiences with the tool. The scope is a broad interpretation of the term "digital preservation". In other words, if a tool is useful in performing a digital preservation function such as those described in the OAIS model or the DCC lifecycle model, then it's within scope of this registry.
@@ Line 20: / Line 30: @@
 *Out of scope: Digitisation, file creation
-===Why does COPTR exist?===
+Crucially, the goal of COPTR is to help you find tools to try out, not tell you what tools to use. The right tool often depends on your specific context and goals. By linking tools to user experiences, workflows, and other records of practice, we hope it will be easier to find out what others are doing, and that this will help you evaluate what you need.
-The digital preservation community had created a whole host of different tool registries that described preservation tools. Many people had also written blog posts about tools or organisations hosted web pages with lists of tools that tackled particular areas. There was lots of duplication between these lists and registries, but at the same time, each one often held tools that weren't described elsewhere. COPTR was built by bringing together and rationalising these other registries and lists. It was originally created as a small activity within the Jisc funded [http://wiki.opf-labs.org/display/SPR SPRUCE Project], and has been significantly developed since - most notably with an upgrade to Semantic Mediawiki in 2021.
+Beyond tools, there are a number of other 'registries' that are related to COPTR and interlinked with it such as the [http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/ Just Solve The Problem File Formats Wiki] for detailed file format information, and the [https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/ PRONOM] format identification registry. You can find more resources and registries on the [https://github.com/digipres/awesome-digital-preservation?tab=readme-ov-file#readme Digital Preservation Awesome List].
+==Why does COPTR exist?==
+The digital preservation community had created a whole host of different tool registries that described preservation tools. Many people had also written blog posts about tools or organisations hosted web pages with lists of tools that tackled particular areas. There was lots of duplication between these lists and registries, but at the same time, each one often held tools that weren't described elsewhere. COPTR was built by bringing together and rationalising these other registries and lists. It was originally created in 2012 as a small activity within the Jisc funded [http://wiki.opf-labs.org/display/SPR SPRUCE Project] ([https://www.dpconline.org/digipres/collaborative-projects/completed-projects/spruce more info]), and has been significantly developed since - most notably with an upgrade to Semantic Mediawiki in 2021.
+It was inspired by the original [http://digitalpowrr.niu.edu/ Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources project (POWRR)] Tools Grid and developed in partnership with the POWRR Project.
+==Governance==
+Currently COPTR does not have a community governance process in place.
+It is supported by the Open Preservation Foundation (OPF) and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), who cover the basic aspect of hosting the service, taking backups, removing entries that are clearly off-topic spam or abusive. Other issues, such as guidelines or processes around content quality, scope, review (see e.g. responding to [[Talk:Main_Page| Main page/discussion]]) or major service changes (e.g. shifting to other platforms,  or dealing with the sustainability issues outlined below) are not covered.
+The staff of the OPF and DPC are not the target users for COPTR, so we would like to encourage community members who care about COPTR to help us find a way to improve this situation. Please join us or get in touch via [[#Contact.2C_feedback_and_questions|the contact details below]]!
-===Sustainability===
+==Sustainability==
-The following arrangements are in place to ensure the sustainability of COPTR:
-*Hosting is kindly provided by the OPF.
+COPTR is stable, but has some sustainability issues. [https://github.com/orgs/digipres/discussions/66 Please see the full details in this statement on the service status and sustainability.]
-*Content is provided and maintained by you, the community! DPC, DDHN and POWRR have been active in coordinating and implementing maintenance and editathons.
-*Regular data dumps are provided to NDIIPP and arrangements are in place to provide a route to future hosting should OPF be unable to continue to provide this service.
-===Technical stuff===
+==Technical stuff==
 *[[Data structures in COPTR]] - information on the COPTR data model and its maintenance
 *[[How COPTR Works]] - information on the technical setup of COPTR
@@ Line 36: / Line 56: @@
 *[[Development plans]]
-===Organizational Contributions===
+==Organizational Contributions==
 Organisations who would like to contribute the contents of their tool registry to COPTR should:
@@ Line 46: / Line 67: @@
 COPTR is aiming to concentrate information about digital preservation tools in one place, keep the information in the registry maintainable and current by pooling the community's effort in one place, and avoid the emergence of new registries.
-===Contact, feedback and questions===
+==Contact, feedback and questions==
-Contact [[User:Prwheatley|Paul Wheatley]] or [[User:Andy_Jackson|Andy Jackson]], or contribute feedback on [[Talk:Main_Page| Main page/discussion]].
+Email [mailto:coptr@openpreservation.org coptr@openpreservation.org] if you have problems using the service, e.g. making sure you have a user account that works.
+You can use [[Talk:Main_Page| Main page/discussion]] or [https://github.com/orgs/digipres/discussions the DigiPres.org GitHub discussion forums] to provide open feedback or raise questions or issues with the service.
+If you'd like some support, or you're just curious about COPTR, please consider joining the [https://dpconline.org/digipres/pr-sig Preservation Registries Special Interest Group (PR-SIG)] and coming along to one our online ''Collaboration Café'' calls.
+==COPTR Partners==
+COPTR was created and launched with the support of the [http://www.educopia.org/events/ANADPII Aligning National Approaches to Digital Preservation] initiative and has been populated and maintained by members of the COPTR partner organisations:
+<gallery heights=90>
+File:DCClogo.png|[http://www.dcc.ac.uk The Digital Curation Centre (DCC)]
+File:DCElogo.gif|[http://digitalcurationexchange.org/ The Digital Curation Exchange (DCE)]
+File:DPCLogoSquare.png|[http://dpconline.org/ The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)]
+File:nde-logo.png|[http://www.netwerkdigitaalerfgoed.nl Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DDHN)]
+File:NDSAlogo.jpg|[https://ndsa.org National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA)]
+File:nestor-logo.jpg|[https://www.langzeitarchivierung.de/Webs/nestor/EN/nestor/nestor_node.html Network of expertise in long-term storage of digital resources in Germany (NESTOR)]
+File:Opf-logo.png|[http://openpreservation.org// The Open Preservation Foundation (OPF)]
+File:POWRRlogo.jpg|[http://digitalpowrr.niu.edu/ Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources project (POWRR)]
+</gallery>
+==Funding and development==
+COPTR was made possible by support from the Jisc funded SPRUCE Project and the Institute of Museum and Library Services funded Digital POWRR Project.
+<gallery heights=90>
+File:2013 Jisc Logo RGB72.png|[http://www.jisc.ac.uk/ Jisc]
+File:SPRUCElogo.png|[http://wiki.opf-labs.org/display/SPR SPRUCE Project]
+File:POWRRlogo.jpg|[http://digitalpowrr.niu.edu/ Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources project (POWRR)]
+File:DPCLogoSquare.png|[https://dpconline.org/ Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)]
+File:nde-logo.png|[http://www.netwerkdigitaalerfgoed.nl Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DDHN)]
+</gallery>