DigiSafe adds new features
Improved functionality is helping with workflows, analysing and sharing content and more
DigiSafe users will be pleased to read about recent updates to this valuable resource for keeping important information or research safe and accessible.
The Libnova platform on which the DigiSafe service is provided has recently been updated, adding new features and improvements behind the scenes. Functionality has been improved to help with a typical workflow of ingest, adding metadata and analysing filetypes. A new option to share containers has also been added.
New DigiSafe features
New features include Submission Areas, enabling users to set up a special container for submitting files. The files are held, awaiting approval, before being added to an archive. This has lots of potential uses, for instance a college might ask alumni to upload their own photos from events, or photos taken during their time at Oxford. Donors of material can also add metadata such as keywords which is transferred with the files.
Another change is support for Jupyter notebooks. These allow data in archives to be worked on using automation, for example you could use a notebook to import metadata from a spreadsheet and add it to files. Schemas can also be created this way, rather than needing to add them manually before importing.
The presentation of containers has also been simplified, removing the division between unstructured and structured data. Users can now create templates to streamline adding new containers. The Application Programming Interface (API) has also been improved, and we are looking into integration with an archive cataloguing system used by several colleges. This will avoid duplicated effort in metadata management.
Other new features and changes include:
- Greater transparency in showing how data is stored - users can see at a glance what type of storage is used. This makes it easier to migrate data between glacier deep archives and standard storage.
- File versioning and recovery has been added to give users the ability to roll back to older versions of archived files.
- Large uploads can now be made directly via S3, a protocol for which there is a greater choice of client software and, importantly, faster uploads.
- Hard and soft deleting is now clearer – files can be left in a Deleted Items folder or permanently deleted.
- Moving files or folders is now much easier – this can be done directly without moving to the ‘common area’.
- An optional quota system has been added to containers – this will help unit administrators to manage their storage, especially when delegating uploads to other users.
- The need to check-in and check-out containers to work on them has been made optional.
- A feature which should be operational soon is the carbon footprint report, which will show the amount of CO2 emissions from storing data on the platform.
What is DigiSafe?
DigiSafe is an opt-in subscription service providing a secure, affordable system for storage, management, and long-term preservation of all kinds of data, including confidential material.
Subscribing units receive access to an easy-to-use, flexible, cloud-based platform, offering storage and tools for secure, compliant data preservation.
Not sure if DigiSafe is for your unit? Find out how one college is using the service to keep their digital files secure and easy to access.
Further information
To learn more about this service, visit our DigiSafe page on the IT Help website, the DigiSafe entry in our Service Catalogue, or contact the service manager who would be happy to show you the platform and explore how the service can meet your requirements.
