Digital Preservation








Abstract



Pursuant to the three goals of the Digital Preservation research,
that will be reported here in this dissertation is the discussion of
the first step, of going from “its to Bits” or the
digitalization of objects.  The second is developing a robust
independent digital data structures for long term digital
preservation of the digitized objects. The third is its pragmatic
application and implementation of a Digital Preservation System. 
Also discussed is the procedural method used in the proposed Digital
Preservation System called Constructive Modeling. It is based on so
called Function Representation of an object that is said here to be a
point wise n-dimensional, multi media, hyper volume, representation
of dynamic objects of mixed materials.  Include is a discussion of
the transformation of unique forms and functions from the tangible
"its" of each of the original wooden parts of a unique
complex temple to the intangible "bits" of digital objects,
that precisely represent each of the parts form and its functions
requiring the use of commonly shared, robust, independent digital
data structure to avoid the problems of obsolescence. The applied
preservation research has lead to the realization that for reasons
based on technical obsolescence and on the physicality of digital
materials or the lack thereof, the solutions of long term digital
preservation to be realized must include an ethical license
agreement.  Thus an ethical agreement was created called Common Good
Public License CGPL agreement (CGPL).  Pragmatically the CGPL
agreement a philosophical framework, in accordance to the ethics of
CGPL was needed.  It as well as CGPL is is based on the first
principles of  digital materials and processes  and formulated on
they way they behave as such the  philosophical framework is called
the digital way or Digitdo.  Also considered as well is a unique
organic organizational structure called Organis, that is accordance
and coherent to the use of the ethics embodied in the CGPL and is the
implementation of the philosophical framework of Digitdo.  However
philosophical and sociological issues are only be touched upon
briefly here due to the largess and pejorative nature of these
topics.  Accordingly the "its" to "bits"
methodology called Constructive Modeling, that at first begin with
the use of Constructive Solid Geometric (CSG) is the first goal and
focus of the research is demonstrated.   Also demonstrated is the
data migration of a geometric CSG represented object to an F-rep
object, which is the result of the second goal of digital
preservation, that is the seeking the long term existence of digital
digital objects.  A Progress report on the third goal of the research
which is the pragmatic application of the digital preservation of
cultural heritage objects in the Aizu basin region of Japan is
presented and discussed. 











Key words: Digital materials, Digital materialism, Organis, Digital
Arts, Virtual Networked Organizations, self organizing, law of
increasing or accelerating returns, Cellular automta, Constructive
Synthetic Modeling, Function Representation, Constructive Solid
Geometric, HyperFun, personal fabrication, neural plasticity, digital
psychology, digital sociology, digital philosophy, digital ethics,
Common Good Public License, singularity, quantum states, synergy,
universal assemblers










Introduction










The long term digital
preservation research is the subject of this dissertation; in the
pursuit of a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Computer Science. The
applied research is a "hands on" type of approach based on
the practice of the arts of the applied and theoretical sciences in
one place and time as it may have been practiced during the
Renaissance period of history.  A high level of literacy in the use
and mastery of digital devices and the artful and skillfully
manipulation of digital materials and processes for the creation of
digital objects that is inclusive of any or all of “the arts”
such as in the practice of architecture, manufacturing engineering,
materials and process engineering as required in this research, which
here taken together and is called the Digital Arts. The  practice of
the Digital Arts is held here to be a prerequisite to being able to
evaluate, understand and preform “by hand” so to speak on
an experimental basis  the transformation of the size and shape of
each of a large existent object's parts, that taken as a whole
contains the objects logical structure and form,  into a compress
form of binary existence as ones and zeros resented by digital
materials and process.  A compress form of that theoretically could
not only exist forever and be accessed virtually  in a  synthetic
format by digital devices, but be decompress into its original form
of existence on demand. 









It is here argued, that
continuation of applied research in the digital preservation of
culture heritage objects as demonstrated in this dissertation,  by
the continued practice of digital arts using Constructive Modeling
methodology based on an F-Rep preservation language under a rigorous
scientific frame work is forming the basic technological foundations
for the implementation of John
von Neumann (1952) concept of universal assemblers and
disassemblers.   The concept is the idea of moving objects freely
between both the natural world of the tangible atomic "its"
and the intangible binary "bits" of synthetic worlds.  The
materialistic digitization transformation concept of “its”
to “bits”  when combined with concept of a universal
digital preservation system characterized by adaptation, redundancy,
healing, and migration by infection offers a new and eternal form of
dimensional less existence in digital space will give rise to the
emergence a unique sociological foundations as well.   Thus It will
be only briefly argued here, that by common reason,  that even now
with the haphazard creation and existence of the emergent forms of
digital data structures in the almost infinite dimensions of digital
space, as provided by the use of digital material and processes has
given rise to  the emergence of a coherent axis of digital ethics,
philosophy and social structures sustainable a vortex of digital
evolution and knowledge as exemplified by the Linux project.  Thus it
is held that the optimistic acts of digital preservation presented in
this dissertation will be of value in the foreseeable future and
beyond. 




While the origins for this
digital preservation research in lay in seminal studies of physical
systems by Leo Szilard introducing the bit as a unit of information
about the location of a gas molecule (1929), Claude Shannon showing
that encoding information digitally can create a threshold allowing
for perfect communication over a noisy channel (1948), by John
von Neumann
(1952), and Shmuel Winograd and Jack Cowan (1963), extending this
result to prove that reliable digital computation can be done by
unreliable analog components, and by John von Neumann (1957) on
self-reproducing machines.  The origins for the research critical to
the digital representation of physical objects both fixed and dynamic
are found in the sentinel
works by A. Pasko and V. Adzhiev (2004)
on Function-based shape modeling the
mathematical framework and specialized language of
Function Representation (or F-rep) that can be used to define the
geometric, volumetric and physical properties of an object by a
single real continuous function of point coordinates as F(X) >= 0.
Thus providing a common method for the mathematical description of
static or dynamic objects of mixed materials based on continuous
functions that can said , to have n-ary number dimensions and
attributes were F(x1,
x2, x3, ..., xn) >= 0 limited only by computational resources
available.  Thus any dynamic or physical aspect of our
current understanding of natural object can be digital represented by
using F-rep and be understood into the foreseeable future and beyond.








However perhaps the most
important provocative underlying principle to achieving long term
digital preservation is that computational equivalence can be found
in nature or that is to say nature can compute.  Provocative or not
their have been many indications that this is could be true such as
Fibonacci number series,  The Mandelbrot and Julia Fractal Sets, 
Lindenmayer Systems, the recently discovered Super Function created
by a biologist from his observations of nature not a mathematician,
that can generate any shape that exists.  If nature can compute,
therefore it would follow that nature can also be represented and
understood by using the language of computation, an insight that was
pioneered by Rolf Landauer's (1961) explanation of the origin of
physical dissipation in logical erasure ; The paradigm that
information is physical, were the erasure of one bit of information
always increases the thermal dynamical entropy of the world by k in
2. This is a bridge to underlying the theory of information science
and perhaps to understanding  the concepts concerning the unique
intangible existence digital materials and processes and the
underlying first principles concerning their use and the pragmatic
requirement for the ethical agreement of the Common Good Public
license in this research.  Thus recent scientific findings stemming
from the use of computational language to investigate the nature of
complexity; were simple rules of physicality rely on synthetic
simulation for complex predictions, that maybe seen as the inverse of
the science method, were complex concepts are shown to be true by
physical proof.  Thus computational intense studies on chaos and the
wider issues of complexity of import to this research have
demonstrated, that the dissipation of energy creates order from chaos
and the confirmation, that nature can compute is demonstrated by a
simple Cellular Atuomta Rule number 110, which gives rise to
complexity from arbitrary input; thus setting forth the Principle of
Computational Equivalence by Wolfram, S. (2002), that is to say
nature's simple rules can compute and nature's computations produce
self emergent complex programs of exponential evolutionary growth as
explained by Law of Accelerating Returns by Ray Kurzweil ( 2001). The
result of which is self organizing, self replicating biological
sentient entities that are implicitly exploiting non
biological and biological entities as computational enhanced tools to
created a digital vortex [xx] of scientific knowledge and resulting
in even a faster rate of evolutionary computational growth.   John
Archibald Wheeler (1989) described the aim of understanding nature or
nature understanding its self as using the language of computation to
go from "it from bit," meaning that the natural world is
most fundamentally understood and inclusively understands its self as
a manifestation of digital information.  This work serves as a
provocative underlying philosophical principle; in the quest to
digitally preserve the local Aizu temples through applied research by
the practice of the digital arts, first by meeting the research goals
of equivalence between the tangible atoms of the natural "its"
and the intangible binary existence of digital "bits"and
thus opens the way for the possibilities of the temples eternal
existence meeting the secondary goal of long term digital
preservation. Thus digital preservation using Constructive Modeling
can be understood as the abstraction and application of logical
descriptions of the construction and functions of physical objects.
This effort starts with studies of transduction at the interface
between digital and physical systems [7], includes investigation of
quantum [8] and classical [9] mechanisms for manipulating
information, and encompasses the development of generalized
principles for organizing these resources into scalable [10],
"fungible" [11] systems based on the architectural F-rep
[xx]  data structures.  Ultimately, these activities are leading
towards a design practice for Avogadro - scale engineering
that can bring rigor to the Constructive Modeling of enormously
complex systems requiring only an implicit F-rep objects providing
specifications for their volumetric configuration shape and Function.
 [12]. The planned development for making a real time interactive
constructive modeling system [xx] by Turlif Vilbrandt (xxxx) and
language for digital preservation extends early work on the primitive
HyperFun language and program based on F-rep by pasko, (xxxx).










In the opposite direction of
"it to bit" is one of the challenging goals of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology`s (MIT) Center for Bits to
Atoms (CBA) is quite literally seeking to
realize von Neumann's vision of a universal assembler. Analogous to
von Neuman`s earlier results in communications and computation, if
logic can be introduced into the process of physical assembly then
perfect macroscopic structures could be built out of imperfect
microscopic parts. Biological proteins are in fact produced in
exactly this way, by programs run by cellular molecular machinery;
CBA researchers have shown how nanocluster antennae can be attached
to these proteins in order to provide for radiofrequency control over
cellular signaling pathways [5]. This promises to create a "digital"
technology for molecular manufacturing, with implications for atoms
as profound as they have been for bits. And just as personal
computers made the capabilities of mainframes accessible to ordinary
people, CBA researchers are now doing the same with industrial
machine tools, developing means for "personal fabrication"
that will bring the programmability of the digital world to the rest
of the world [6].








CBA was
founded by Profs. Isaac Chuang, Neil Gershenfeld, Joseph Jacobson,
and Scott Manalis, with Marvin Minsky. It was launched by a National
Science Foundation award in 2001 [1] that is supporting the creation
of a unique shared experimental resource that enables the creation of
form and function across nine orders of magnitude in length scales
[2], as well as an associated intellectual community drawn from
across MIT's campus [3] spanning the historical divisions that have
emerged between the study of computer science and physical science,
and between the development of software and hardware. CBA's
government funding is complemented by corporate sponsorship for
technology development and transfer [4].








The academic home for CBA is
the MAS Program (Media Arts and Sciences), directed by William
Mitchell, broadly encompassing the study of design across
intellectual and physical scales [14]. Along with teaching and
research, CBA outreach activities include meetings and events run
with partner institutions [15], a growing network of field "fab
labs" that are bringing tools for technological design and
production to remote parts of the world that have been beyond the
reach of conventional technical solutions [16], and industrial
coordination such as the "Internet 0" initiative that is
extending the Internet "endtoend" principle of
internetworking all the way down to the device level [17].








It is
important to note that the Computer Arts Lab (CAL) of the University
of Aizu, that  has become a part of the CBA`s "bits to it"
personal fabrication ( Fab Lab ) applied research efforts at the
personal invitation of Neil Gershenfeld.  The preservation research
on a real time interactive digital preservation constructive modeling
system to allow a user of the CBA`s personal fabrication system to
create and or modify synthetic digital objects  is perhaps one of
core elements needed in CBA`s quest to create a universal assembler
system.



The preservation research
is the result of an ambitious interdisciplinary Digital Arts project
in support of the Aizu History project by Jan and Jim Goodwin ( ),
that  is looking beyond the end of the current Digital Age and
the beginning of the Quantum Age stemming from the discovery's of
Schrödinger
, (1926) to the Age of Singularities described by Vernor
Vinge, (1986) to ask how Function Representation (F-rep) works of
by A. Pasko et, al. (2000) can be use to create a system that
functionally defines dynamic objects and their environmental settings
so that they can be embodied in, abstracted from, their physical form
and digitally archived in a system designed as an active yet secure
digital repository for the millenniums of post human [ ] history yet
to come. The results of research demonstrates the transformation of
form and function from the tangible "its" of each of the
original wooden parts forming the unique temple of Sazido in the Aizu
eyes region of Japan that was a virtual pilgrimage[xx] of its
time to the intangible "bits" of digital objects that
mathematically, with the use of F-rep precisely define and archive
each of the wooden parts and their functionally in such an intangible
digido that the individual parts and the virtual temple of Sazido
could be said to have the possibility of eternal life.








These
simple, profound questions date back to the beginning of modern
manufacturing, before that to "The Arts" of the Renaissance
[xx] and their origins can be found in the study of natural science
of the Grecian philosopher Name and (date);
now they have new revolutionary implications following from the
recognition of the computational universality of physical systems as
shown by Principle of Computational Equivalence by Wolfram, S.
(2002). [18] Thus in this the Digital Age [xx] it is no longer afford
to ignore nature's capabilities that have been neglected by
conventional digital logic; it is at the boundary between the
physical and its digital representation of static and dynamic objects
of mix materials that many of science's greatest technological,
economic, social opportunities and obstacles lie.








Advances
in scientific research are now dependent on the use digital materials
and process; for it has become the scientific slide rule by which
most measurements and calculations are made. Measurements that nature
is now being defined.  Thus
"Digital" is now perhaps the supreme technological entity
of influence  in the pantheism of scientific research.[xx] With that
said it needs to be noted that digital materials and processes are
now already being augmented by and in the future will be replace by
Quantum materials and processes [xx] and nature maybe seen in
future through other technological view points. 









References


A.
Pasko and V. Adzhiev, "Function-based shape modeling:
mathematical framework and specialized language", Automated
Deduction in Geometry, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 2930,
Ed. F. Winkler, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2004, pp.
132-160. Electronic version: PDF
(847K)