Artefactual

Artefactual (formally Artefactual Systems Inc.) is a Canadian professional services and software development company that builds and supports open-source tools for digital access and preservation. Incorporated in 2000, the company began as a digital preservation consulting practice and has since grown into a multidisciplinary team combining technical, archival, and information management expertise. Its stated mission is to help cultural memory persist over time and space, ensuring that evidence of the past can be cared for in the present and trusted into the future. Artefactual is best known for two open-source projects: Access to Memory (AtoM), an archival description and access application, and Archivematica, a digital preservation system. AtoM originated in 2007 with funding from the International Council on Archives (ICA) to develop standards-based archival descriptive software. In 2009, work began on an OAIS-based digital preservation plug-in for AtoM, which quickly evolved into a standalone application, Archivematica. Both tools are now used around the world as open-source options for institutions seeking to provide access to and preserve cultural memory. The company operates as a commercial open-source business. It offers hosted subscriptions, enterprise subscriptions, and implementation services for AtoM and Archivematica, providing technical support, domain expertise, and service-level agreements to clients ranging from small organizations to large institutions. Artefactual positions itself as an open, collaborative, sustainable, and trustworthy partner, emphasizing knowledge sharing and long-term stewardship over purely transactional software sales. Its work supports archives, libraries, museums, and other memory institutions globally.

Artefactual Systems Inc. was incorporated in 2000 as a digital preservation consulting company. From its early years, the firm provided expertise and technology in the domains of digital access and preservation, working with archives and other cultural memory organizations. A major turning point came in 2007, when Artefactual received funding from the International Council on Archives (ICA) to develop an open-source archival descriptive software application based on ICA's various standards. That project became Access to Memory (AtoM). In 2009, Artefactual began work on an open-source digital preservation plug-in for AtoM based on the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. The plug-in quickly grew into an application in its own right, called Archivematica. Over the following years, AtoM and Archivematica became widely used around the world as open-source options for providing access to and preserving cultural memory. Artefactual built a commercial business around these projects, offering hosted and enterprise subscriptions as well as implementation services, all backed by service-level agreements. The company describes itself as having grown since incorporation while maintaining a consistent focus on being a trusted partner for those who care for cultural memory. Artefactual operates with an explicitly open and collaborative philosophy. It states that it builds tools that are durable and responsive, long-lasting and dynamic, and that it takes an uncompromising view of the long term. The company does not treat digital access and preservation as solved problems but as an ongoing practice, aiming for data to outlast the systems that built it and remain accessible and usable into the future. It emphasizes knowledge sharing and contribution to a global community of practice alongside its commercial services.

• 2009

  Began work on an OAIS-based open-source digital preservation plug-in for AtoM, which became Archivematica.

• 2007

  Received funding from the International Council on Archives (ICA) to develop open-source archival descriptive software, leading to AtoM.

• 2000

  Artefactual Systems Inc. incorporated as a digital preservation consulting company.

Open, collaborative, sustainable, and trustworthy partner for digital access and preservation; commercial support and hosting for open-source archival tools.

• Access to Memory (AtoM)

  Open-source archival description and access application developed with ICA funding.

• Archivematica

  Open-source digital preservation system based on the OAIS reference model.

• Hosting subscriptions

  AtoM and/or Archivematica hosted in an Artefactual-defined cloud environment under an SLA.

• Enterprise subscriptions

  Annual agreements for AtoM or Archivematica in a customer-defined environment under an SLA.

• Implementation services

  Tailored training, data migration, workflow consultations, and other support services.

1. 1Home | Artefactualartefactual.com
2. 2Services | Artefactualartefactual.com
3. 3About Us and How We Work | Artefactualartefactual.com
4. 4Artefactual - Wikidatawikidata.org