Overview

Led by the Digital Preservation Services team at Yale University Library; and with support from OpenSLX, DataCurrent, PortalMedia, Educopia, and the Software Preservation Network; the EaaSI program of work is focused on the development of technology and services to expand and scale the capabilities of the Emulation-as-a-Service software.

This work includes:

  • The establishment of a community of partner institutions using the EaaSI software platform;
  • Implementation of a resource sharing functionality, the EaaSI Network, which enables distribution and retrieval of emulation environments and software installation media between users;
  • Improvement of description and discovery capabilities, including use of and contribution to data in the Wikidata body of knowledge (via the WikiDP portal);
  • Prototyping of various modules and services for management of end-user access (including the Open Source Software Sandbox).

As part of our efforts to increase the available resources, thousands of computing environments are being configured and shared to the EaaSI Network service. Configuration workers are busy cataloging software (e.g., names, developers, system requirements, file format support) and installing operating systems and applications in emulated computing environments.

The EaaSI program of work is sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

Launch Sandbox

Deliverables

Distribute

Distributed Management

To make sure our service lasts, we’re pushing forward a decentralized network of EaaSI nodes and environments. That includes:

  • At least 10 partner institutions, each controlling their own installation of the EaaSI platform
  • Thousands of pre-configured emulation environments and software installation media, seeded by Yale and shareable between nodes
  • A collaborative approach to service-building that ensures expert feedback and community investment

Scale Up

Deploying and using emulators should be streamlined. EaaSI offers:

  • Improvements to the Emulation-as-a-Service platform, originally developed by the bwFLA program and now maintained by OpenSLX
  • A fresh, intuitive user interface and experience for EaaSI, designed by PortalMedia
  • Enhanced performance and security through integration with user authentication services

Discover

EaaSI draws on existing metadata schema and standard initiatives to address software and software dependencies (CodeMeta, PREMIS, Wikidata, and more) to power all components of our service. That means:

  • A defined metadata profile for description of software and computing environments
  • Comprehensible, open, machine-readable records and documentation
  • Incorporation of services and schema developed by Wikidata for Digital Preservation

Access

To expand the community of users who benefit from emulation, we’re also developing four extensions of the EaaSI platform to address identified patrons and communities:

  • CD-ROM Sharing
    Shared emulation for obsolete digital media in circulating library collections
  • Virtual Reading Room
    Enhanced access to born-digital materials in archives and special collections
  • Scientific Software Portal
    Incorporation of emulation into workflows for Research Data Management (RDM)
  • Universal Virtual Interactor (UVI)
    An API to enable automated retrieval and interaction with EaaSI resources

Staff

Claire Fox

Claire leads the day-to-day efforts of our Software Emulation Configuration student team at Yale and helps us develop more shareable workflows and metadata. Claire is a 2020 graduate of the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program at New York University; …Continue Claire Fox

Bios

Kat Thornton

Katherine Thornton is an information scientist working on creating metadata as linked open data. Kat works on the Scaling Emulation as a Service Infrastructure (EaaSI) project describing the software and configured environments in Wikidata. Kat has been a volunteer contributor …Continue Kat Thornton

Bios

Klaus Rechert

Klaus is a Computer Science researcher with a focus on functional preservation, emulation as a preservation strategy and digital forensics. Over the last 6 years, Klaus has assisted in the implementation of emulation solutions in a range of organizational types …Continue Klaus Rechert

Bios

Ethan Gates

Ethan Gates was a double English and Russian major at Amherst College and is a graduate of NYU’s MA program in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation. For several years he worked as NYU-MIAP’s staff Technician, coordinating equipment maintenance, use, and …Continue Ethan Gates

Bios

Euan Cochrane

Euan manages the Digital Preservation Services team at Yale University Library – responsible for the Library’s digital repository and providing related preservation services to the university. Euan is excited to see many years of emulation and software preservation work come …Continue Euan Cochrane

Bios

Seth Anderson

Seth began his relationship with digital preservation while studying Moving Image Archiving and Preservation at NYU. Prior to joining the team at YUL, Seth worked as a consultant with AVPreserve, on digital preservation projects for the Smithsonian Institution, United States …Continue Seth Anderson

Bios

Jessica Meyerson

As SPN’s Interim Community Facilitator, Jessica Meyerson works closely with the SPN Coordinating Committee to ensure that our work adheres to core principles of transparency, responsiveness, and engagement.

Bios, Staff, ,

EaaSI Student Staff

We recognize and appreciate the contributions of all our student staff. Every student staff member is critical to EaaSI program success.

Current Student Staff:

  • Andres Burgos (’22)
  • Claire Campbell (M.A. ’23)
  • Daraeno Ekong (’24)
  • Jeff Pham (’24)

Former Student Staff:

  • Aly Moosa (’25)
  • Esther Dominguez (’24)
  • Neeta Patel (M.A. ’24)
  • Nicole Cosme (PhD. ’26)
  • Lucia You (M.A. ’22)
  • Nina Lin (’24)
  • Helen Dugmore (’22)
  • Sasha Semina (’23)
  • Yifan Li (M.C.S. ’22)
  • Leo Lizbinski (M.P.H. ’20)
  • Kevin Zheng (M.M. ’18, M.P.H. ’20)
  • Justin Cong (’20)
  • Justin Aubin (’21)
  • Mac Schmidt (’20)
  • Zoe Sinclair (’22)
  • Idris Sylvester (’20)
  • Eric Timperman (M.M., ’19)
  • Matt Tu (’22)
  • Kohei Yamaguchi (M.M.A., ’19)
  • Paul Han (’20)
  • Alexa Murray (’19)
  • Vibhor Nayak (M.A.M., ’18)
  • Nico Taylor (’22)