What is OnRamp planning to do about format changes?
Fez, which is the basis of the content management component for OnRamp, is incorporating the Automated Obsolescence Notification System (AONS), which analyses digital repositories to determine whether any digital objects contained therein may be in danger of becoming obsolete. It uses preservation information about file formats and the software which supports these formats to determine if the formats used by digital objects are in danger. The insformation used is gleaned from various registries (PRONOM and LCSDF) and stored in a MySQL database. AONS then periodically checks the repository contents for formats at risk. When the repository is found to contain such formats, a notification report is sent to the repository manager. A notification report may trigger a migration event for a group of objects stored in the at-risk format. When this becomes available in Fez, OnRamp should have it available shortly after that.
