15 FIELD GUIDES · 2 WORKED EXAMPLES
What can be carried forward?
Connect specimen identity, material quality, digital integrity and retrieval without confusing preservation with future revival.
Preservation & archives
Start with the question closest to your experiment. Each guide separates the mechanism, an illustrative example, and the evidence needed for the next decision.
Does preserved DNA mean preserved living cells?
Learn why readable DNA and living cells are different preservation outcomes, and how the intended future use changes the evidence that matters.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEHow does vitrification relate to cryopreservation?
Understand vitrification as one approach within cryopreservation, with distinct questions about ice, cooling, warming, and demonstrated function.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhy can temperature gradients matter?
Explore why a single temperature reading cannot describe an entire specimen, and how differences across space complicate preservation evidence.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhy is organ evidence not whole-organism evidence?
Keep preservation claims aligned with their tested scale: a result for an organ answers different questions from one about an entire organism.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat makes a specimen identity trustworthy?
Follow the distinction between a specimen label and an evidence-backed identity, including identifiers, linked records, and unresolved mismatches.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat does a chain of custody explain?
Learn how documented handoffs help explain a specimen’s history, and why a complete custody record still differs from a proof of specimen quality.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhy does consent scope matter to preservation?
Consider consent as a boundary around intended use, sharing, and future decisions, without mistaking storage or access for unrestricted permission.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhy test retrieval rather than only storage?
Understand why an archive needs evidence that an item can be found and interpreted, not merely a report that its storage system remains available.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat does viability after storage establish?
Learn to read viability as a measured, context-dependent outcome, with attention to the assessed sample, criterion, timing, and unanswered functions.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat can an archive checksum tell you?
Distinguish evidence that file bytes remain unchanged from evidence that the content is correct, readable, complete, or meaningful to a future user.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat must survive a file-format migration?
Explore migration as preservation of intended meaning and function, with original files, conversion history, and significant properties kept visible.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEHow do redundancy and backup differ?
Compare continued availability with recovery from an earlier state, and learn why multiple copies can still share the same underlying failure risk.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEHow do permissions affect preservation?
Learn why preserving access requires both authorization and continuity, with clear distinctions among viewing, modifying, sharing, and administering.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhy is metadata part of what is preserved?
Explore how units, provenance, definitions, and relationships let future users interpret stored content, even when the underlying files remain intact.
Read the guide ↗FIELD GUIDEWhat makes preservation a continuity problem?
Understand why long-term stewardship depends on responsibility, records, resources, and handovers as well as the physical or digital storage medium.
Read the guide ↗PUT THE IDEAS TO WORK