Middlelinked

Middlelinked is an experimental digital preservation technique that aims to preserve and protect cultural heritage and digital information by interlinking digital objects.

Developed in response to concerns over digital obsolescence and the fragility of online content, middlelinked involves creating multiple copies of a digital object at different stages of its lifecycle, making it easier to recover and understand the object's history and context.

The concept of middlelinked is built around the idea of capturing the provenance of digital objects, including information about their creation, context, and evolution over time. This is achieved through the creation of multiple, linked versions of an object, which are then stored and preserved as a single, cohesive entity.

Proponents of middlelinked argue that it offers a more robust and sustainable approach to digital preservation than traditional methods, which often focus on preserving a single, discrete object. Middlelinked's use of interlinking makes it easier to track changes to the object over time and provides a more complete understanding of its history and context.

The technique has been explored in the context of various fields, including digital humanities, cultural heritage preservation, and computer science. Some researchers have expressed hope that middlelinked could offer new insights into the nature and evolution of digital information, while others have raised concerns about the practical challenges and technical requirements of implementing the technique.

Despite these complexities, middlelinked remains an area of active research and experimentation in the field of digital preservation. Its potential to provide new insights into the nature of digital information and to improve the long-term preservation of cultural heritage makes it a topic of ongoing interest and study.