Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 800.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 08:47:29 +0100
From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org>
Subject: Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: OCLC/RLG White
Paper
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
April 11, 2001
Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects:
A Review of the State of the Art
A White Paper by the OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata, 2001
<http://www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation/presmeta_wp.pdf>http://www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation/presmeta_wp.pdf
This is a late announcement, but of an important document reviewing the
"state-of-the-art" of preservation metadata from several nations as the
first step in building consensus on good practice in implementing metadata
in support of digital preservation.
I include here the review by Roy Tennant from "Current Cites" and the
complete introduction from the publication.
David Green
===========
>Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 17:43:12 -0800 (PST)
>>From: CITES Moderator <citeschk@library.berkeley.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <cites@library.berkeley.edu>
>>
>
> Current Cites (Digital Library
> SunSITE)
> Volume 12, no. 3, March
> 2001
>
> Edited by Roy
> Tennant
>
>
> The Library, University of California, Berkeley,
> 94720
> ISSN: 1060-2356
>
><http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2001/cc01.12.3.html>http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2001/cc01.12.3.html
>
> Contributors: Charles W. Bailey, Jr., Jim Ronningen, Roy Tennant
>
<<SNIP>>
>OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata. Preservation Metadata for
>Digital Objects: A Review of the State of the Art A White Paper by the
>OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata, 2001
>(<http://www.oclc.org/>http://www.oclc.org/
>digitalpreservation/presmeta_wp.pdf). - The title
>describes the goal of this white paper, and it does it quite well. Digital
>preservation is a global issue, and the membership and findings of this
>group reflect this global nature. Exemplars of metadata for the purpose of
>preserving digital objects are reviewed, including the Open Archival
>Information System (OAIS) reference model, and metadata element sets from
>the Research Libraries Group (RLG), the National Library of Australia,
>CURL Exemplars in Digital Archives (CEDARS), the Networked European
>Deposit Library (NEDLIB), and Harvard University. The white paper ends by
>identifying points of convergence between these metadata element sets, and
>enumerating issues requiring further discussion. - RT
===============================================================
I. Introduction
Metadata is routinely defined in accordance with its literal
interpretation: "data
about data". More usefully, Day (1998) observes that "metadata is commonly
understood
as an amplification of traditional bibliographic cataloguing practices in
an electronic
environment." In the context of digital information objects, metadata can
be assigned to
one of three functional categories (Wendler (1999)):
Descriptive: facilitating resource discovery and identification
Administrative: supporting resource management within a collection
Structural: binding together the components of complex information objects
Of these three categories, descriptive metadata for electronic resources
has received
the most attention - most notably through the Dublin Core metadata
initiative. However,
increasing awareness of the challenges posed by digital preservation - the
long-term
retention of digital objects - has underscored metadata needs for digital
objects beyond
resource discovery.
Effective management of all but the crudest forms of digital preservation
is likely to
be facilitated by the creation, maintenance, and evolution of detailed
metadata in support
of the preservation process. For example, metadata could document the
technical
processes associated with preservation, specify rights management
information, and
establish the authenticity of digital content. It can record the chain of
custody for a digital
object, and uniquely identify it both internally and externally in relation
to the archive in
which it resides. In short, the creation and deployment of preservation
metadata is likely
to be a key component of most digital preservation strategies.
Several initiatives have addressed the issue of preservation metadata, with
the result
that a variety of approaches to its use have emerged. These approaches,
developed
independently of one another and designed largely to meet particular
institutional or
project requirements, nevertheless share several common themes. However,
they also
differ on a number of key points. Consequently, the body of current work in
preservation
metadata does not reflect a consensus on best practices for the use of
metadata in support
of digital preservation.
Initiatives such as the Dublin Core have demonstrated the value of
consensus-building
on metadata issues. In this spirit, the OCLC/RLG Working Group on
Preservation Metadata was formed to initiate a consensus-building process in
preservation metadata. Comprised of key stakeholders from a variety of
institutional and
geographic backgrounds, the Working Group is charged with developing a
consensus on
best practices and common approaches to the use of metadata to facilitate
the long-term
retention of digital objects. Using existing work as the foundation and
starting point for
its discussion, the Working Group will develop a comprehensive preservation
metadata
framework, describe a set of "essential" preservation metadata elements
needed to
support the framework, examine implementation issues associated with
preservation
metadata, and create testbed/pilot applications. The Working Group will
conclude its work by releasing a set of recommendations reflecting their
consensus on best practices
and approaches to the use of metadata to support digital preservation
strategies.
This white paper represents the first step of the Working Group's activity.
Its scope
includes the following topics:
definition and illustration of preservation metadata for digital objects
high-level requirements for a broadly applicable, comprehensive preservation
metadata framework
the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model, a potential
starting point for developing the preservation metadata framework
review and synthesis of existing preservation metadata approaches
identification of points of convergence/divergence among existing approaches
Collectively, these topics constitute both a summary of the "state of the
art" in
preservation metadata, and a starting point for the consensus-building
process in which
the members of the Working Group will participate.
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