Digital Preservation Cost Modeling: An Open Case

Knowing, measuring and parameterizing how much permanent digital preservation costs has been the subject of attention since the first studies in the mid-90s of the last century. Establishing a model for calculating the costs of digital preservation is an aspiration that consumes considerable efforts, has borne some fruits, but has not yet reached its objective. Permanent digital preservation is currently unable to answer the simple question of how much that its costs? Thus, without a model for calculating costs, it is difficult to make timely decisions, which imply the adoption of long-term financial commitments. Therefore, the central objective of this work is to analyze the different projects and measure progress towards a future operating and accepted model. We propose to analyze the continuity of the empirical models developed and the characteristics of the latest proposals, to obtain the most precise image possible of the state of the issue.