Qualitative Analysis Toward Bottom-Up Emulation Workflows

Abstract

Many institutions have large amounts of historical data that cannot be properly accessed due to technological progression. Often the librarians and data archivists at these institutions lack the technical knowledge to accurately emulate their historical data. To access this data, institutions need a clear workflow to emulate the data in its proper historical context. This poster describes the use of a modification of qualitative grounded theory to analyze in-situ preservation workflows making use of emulation techniques. The findings are derived from roughly 700 pages of process notes taken over 2 months about various emulation methods. These notes detail the use of emulation software including VirtualBox, EaaSI, SheepShaver, and Basilisk II, spanning approximately 3 decades of Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The goal of this in-process work is to identify and delineate common tasks across the emulation of different classes of software objects through a unique approach based in bottom-up qualitative observation. This work also illuminates the layers needed to create a historically accurate emulated environment across many operating systems.

Details

Session 2

3:00pm – 4:30pm

Grand Salon

HSI-SMART