Emulation

What is Emulation?

Emulation is a digital preservation strategy that uses software to recreate the behavior of an obsolete hardware, operating system or software environment so digital records can continue to be accessed and used on modern systems. Instead of changing the original digital object, emulation focuses on recreating the environment required to render or operate it.

Emulation can be particularly relevant when the original appearance, functionality or behavior of a digital record is important to its meaning or use. It provides an alternative to approaches such as format migration, which converts digital objects into newer formats.

Key Features

• Legacy Environment Recreation: Reproduces the behavior of obsolete hardware, operating systems or software environments.

• Original Object Preservation: Allows the original digital object or bitstream to remain unchanged.

• Behavior Preservation: Helps retain the original functionality, appearance or interaction of complex digital objects.

• Emulator Software: Uses specialized software to imitate the functions of an earlier computing environment.

• Dependency Preservation: May require supporting software, configurations and technical documentation needed to recreate the original environment.

• Long-Term Accessibility: Supports continued access to digital records affected by technological obsolescence.

Benefits

• Preserved Original Content: Helps maintain access without converting the original digital object.

• Retention of Look and Feel: Can preserve aspects of how a digital record originally appeared or behaved.

• Support for Complex Records: Can be useful for software-dependent or interactive digital objects where format conversion may remove important functionality.

• Reduced Dependence on Legacy Hardware: Allows older digital environments to be reproduced on newer computing systems.

• Improved Digital Preservation: Provides an additional strategy for maintaining usable digital records over long periods.

• Better Historical Context: Can help users experience digital records within an environment closer to their original technological context.

Conclusion

Emulation is a specialized digital preservation strategy for maintaining access to records that depend on obsolete technological environments. By recreating the original computing environment rather than transforming the record itself, it can help preserve important aspects of a digital object's functionality, appearance and context while supporting continued access as technology changes.