Content specifications

Well, we now have a package described in XML, we need some content and maybe images, PDFs and information structured in XML that extends the information recorded in the package. This means we have one or more XML-documents to describe the information and its structure, and another XML-document to describe the whole package with all the content, but not the structure of the information itself. We can even handle a relational database in this way, extracting it in XML format and then packaging it in a SIP for transfer to the archive. Specifications of content are at the heart of the eArchiving Building Block, and the number of specifications is growing steadily. There are lots of different kinds of information that need to be described, luckily there are many specifications for describing information in XML, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

The eArchiving building block specifications

The eArchiving building block specifications.

In the image the content is described with the acronym CITS which means Content Information Type Specifications. Currently there are three available as described previously.

[15]https://github.com/DILCISBoard/E-ARK-ERMS

[16]https://github.com/DILCISBoard/E-ARK-Geodata

[17]https://github.com/DILCISBoard/SIARD