OPvCon 2020 Lecture by Anne Raugh (University of Maryland) on the evolution of the PDS archiving standards.

The great majority of IT standards are aimed at current consumers and users - making it possible for contemporary processes to interact, exchange data effectively,or process large data sets efficiently. Standards solely and wholly developed to address the needs of long-term preservation and accessibility are a relatively recent phenomenon (OAIS v1 - 2003; PDF/A-1 - 2005; for example). When PDS was established in the mid 1980s, it was charged by NASA not merely to "save the bits", but to ensure and maintain the usability of the data for future generations. This imperative to "maintain usability" has been the greatest challenge faced by PDS and the single most important driving force in the evolution of the PDS standards and the PDS as an organization. This talk will present the history of this evolution as shaped by the conflicts that arose from this core mission.

https://www.openplanetary.org/vcon