An Overview of Emulation as a Preservation Method

An Overview of Emulation as a Preservation Method

Emulation–the use of modern computer systems to run historical software–is a growing practice within libraries, archives, museums, and galleries that is essential to conserving and providing ongoing access to the digital past. Emulation makes it possible to interact with historical data and digital artifacts in ways that are more consistent with their creators’ intentions, helping contemporary users better understand how and why those artifacts were made. Increasingly, academic and cultural organizations face challenging decisions about using emulation to preserve and provide access to their collections. An Overview of Emulation as a Preservation Method introduces fundamental concepts related to emulation in practice and explains key considerations that can inform these decisions. The report also includes a review of academic literature related to emulation and suggests new avenues for potential future collaboration and exploration. Together, the conceptual overview, example use cases, and literature review provide readers new to emulation with an orientation to the current state of practice as well as an understanding of the important role of emulation in the larger field of digital preservation.