{"id":2595,"date":"2021-09-03T08:30:51","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T08:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2021-09-03T09:12:09","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T09:12:09","slug":"the-internet-the-environment-and-storing-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2021\/09\/03\/the-internet-the-environment-and-storing-records\/","title":{"rendered":"The Internet, the Environment, and Storing Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we can physically see smoke from chimneys and smell fumes from cars it\u2019s clear that they are polluting our environment but when we can\u2019t see the smoke for ourselves it\u2019s easy to forget about the environmental impact. Invisible, yet all around us, the internet is quickly becoming one of the major contributors to our global carbon footprint. Behind every click there is a hidden cost, not to our bank accounts but to our planet. ICT now accounts for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions and this is expected to double by 2025. It\u2019s estimated that if you streamed the Peaky Blinders box set, you produced the same emissions as a drive from Birmingham to Manchester! We\u2019re at a crucial stage in our battle against climate change and it\u2019s more important than ever to become aware of how our internet habits are contributing to global warming so we can help to save our planet.<\/p>\n

The internet is powered by data centres, located in massive buildings all over the world stocked full of computer systems which store and serve the internet. Every single action that happens online goes through these data centres. The internet is always available, allowing us to post photos, watch television shows and make video calls anytime of the day or night. As of January 2021, the internet is used by approximately 4.66 billion people worldwide and to keep this service running requires a huge amount of energy to power and cool the data centres, so they don\u2019t overheat. If you think about how warm your laptop can get, just imagine the heat produced by an entire warehouse full of computer servers running at once!<\/p>\n

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The archives of today are found on hard drives rather than paper, and these digital records require very different care. Digital archiving is about preserving information stored on any digital object, like floppy discs or CDs, and ensuring that the information will be safe and accessible for years to come. Digital records are surprisingly fragile; they are complex and more vulnerable to loss, corruption, or obsolescence. Digital Preservation<\/a> aims to offer the same security and preservation assurances we provide for our paper and parchment archives.<\/p>\n

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At the Dorset History Centre (DHC), we use Preservica, a cloud storage system, to store and manage our digital records. Preservica Cloud is a living archive which actively monitors our digital repository for corruption; making copies, migrating old formats to new, and repairing any damaged files. Preservica cloud is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS <\/em>is one of the largest cloud suppliers in the world, making more money from their cloud storage than all the Alexa devices and Prime one day deliveries combined. AWS<\/em> store information on their systems for many companies including Netflix and the BBC. AWS<\/em> is committed to providing clean energy to its users however in a 2019 report, Greenpeace<\/em> estimate that at the minute AWS<\/em> are operating on only 12% renewable energy and given the amount of energy they require to support one of the largest cloud providers, the sooner they move to renewable energy the better. Cloud storage brings us many new opportunities to store and stream content, but it\u2019s important to remember that the cloud is not in the sky, the cloud is a physical location.<\/p>\n

After researching the environmental impact of Digital Preservation, we have implemented changes here at the DHC to help us reduce our carbon footprint. While great thought and consideration always goes into making decisions about what we hold in our repositories, we are now also taking onboard the environmental cost of these preservation decisions. Our digital repository is not made of shelves and boxes, it can be whatever size we need it to be, however, we know that not everything can be preserved. We are conducting regular re-approval across all our digital collections to ensure every byte of data deserves to be there and have started running large data ingest workflows overnight when internet traffic is much lower as a starting point to become digitally greener.<\/p>\n

We can all help Dorset Council reach its goal to be a carbon neutral county<\/a> by 2050 by making a few small digital changes. \u00a0Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n

On all your devices: (home and corporate)<\/p>\n