The DOCAM Research Alliance focused on five main goals surrounding the documentation and conservation of media arts. A central purpose underlying these goals was the understanding of how media art can best be preserved in order to be re-displayed or re-used over time. For example, in order to re-display media arts created on obsolete systems, a decision must be made regarding whether to migrate the work to a new format or attempt to display the work in its original context using an
emulator. Committees were formed around the focus areas of conservation and preservation, documentation and archival management, technological timeline, cataloguing structure, and terminology. As an international alliance, DOCAM was not solely focused on Canadian art, but many participants were Canadian and most case studies involved Canadian art and artists. For example, DOCAM examined
Greg Lynn's Embryonic House, an early example of
digital architectural design, to tackle preservation and conservation issues related to
digital obsolescence and protection against loss of digital data due to instability of physical media.
Documentation and Archival Management The DOCAM Documentation Model spans the entire lifecycle of a work of
digital art and provides a framework for preservation that can be used by artists, institutions, and other stakeholders. The model is based on a highly modified version of the
International Federation of Library Associations' Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), a hierarchical model which describes entities as works, expressions, manifestations, or items. The DOCAM Documentation Model prioritizes several factors, including the uniqueness and range of document types for media art, a desire for hierarchical description, and documentation of a work's complete lifecycle.
Technological Timeline Although it is currently available on DOCAM's website only as a partial static image, DOCAM's Technological Timeline is intended to present an interactive view of the history of media arts technology, including links to external resources. As a reflection of DOCAM's educational purpose, the timeline's audience includes students and teachers of visual art history in addition to museum and other information professionals. For example, to protect the authenticity and integrity of media artwork, the cataloguing institution must include information about any preservation activities undertaken, including migration from obsolete or unstable media to newer software or hardware. The Glossaurus is conceived as a tool for cataloguers and others involved in the description of visual art, rather than as a tool for users searching for digital art. == Impact ==