PAWN: Producer-Archive Workflow Network in support of digital preservation

We describe the design and the implementation of the PAWN (Producer – ArchiveWorkflow Network) environment to enable secure and distributed ingestion of digital
objects into a persistent archive. PAWN was developed to capture the core elements
required for long term preservation of digital objects as identified by previous research in
the digital library and archiving communities. In fact, PAWN can be viewed as an
implementation of the Ingest Process as defined by the Open Archival Information
System (OAIS) Reference Model, and is currently being used to ingest significant
collections into a pilot persistent archive developed through a collaboration between the
San Diego Supercomputer Center, the University of Maryland, and the National Archives
and Records Administration. We make use of METS (Metadata Encoding and
Transmission Standards) to encapsulate content, structural, descriptive, and preservation
metadata. The basic software components are based on open standards and web
technologies, and hence are platform independent.