Reference Model Definitions

1.5 Definitions

Access

the services and functions which make the archival information and externally-available services visible to consumers, accept orders from consumers and provide customer services.

Adhoc Consumer

The Adhoc Consumer does not know a priori what specific holdings of the archive he is interested in acquiring.

Archive

A repository that intends to preserve information for access and use by one or more designated communities.

Archive Administration Data

Archive Descriptive Records

Archived Information

Information, represented by digital or non digital data, that is being preserved for public access over the long (indefinite) term. The information is deemed to be understandable to one or more segments of the public. For the information to be preserved, the underlying representations may be changed as needed to maximize information preservation.

Collection

An aggregation of two or more other objects, where those objects can be any combination of Information Objects and/or Collections. Each Collection is considered to be suitable for being adequately documented for preservation, distribution and independent usage.

Collection Access Mechanism

Collection Descriptive Records

relevant metadata about the collection and pointers to contained information objects or collections.

Consumer

Consumers play the role of those who interact with archive services to find information of interest and to access that information in detail.

Customer

Those who interact with archive services to find information of interest and to access that information in detail.

Data

The representation forms of information.

Data Delivery Session

A Data Delivery session may be a delivered set of media or a single telecommunications session. The Data Delivery session format/contents is based on a data model negotiated between the archive and the producer in the Submission Agreement. This data model identifies the logical constructs used by the producer and how they are represented on each media delivery or in the telecommunication session.

Data Item

A representation of information that is documented in a specification that gives its general meaning, or concepts, and the specific meanings for the various states or values that it may take.

Data Management

the services and functions for populating, maintaining, and querying a wide variety of metadata including product related metadata such as data catalogs, directories, inventories, and processing algorithms and other metadata including information on customer access and security, archive schedules and procedures, and processing history.

Data Model

The collection of representations and their relationships which apply to a particular logical or physical data representation. [needs work]

Data Store

Data Transformation

Descriptive Records

records that describe information objects or collections that contain all the relevant metadata for that object

Digital Information Objects

An aggregation of digital information, not containing other information objects, that is considered suitable for being adequately documented for preservation, distribution and independent usage.

Dissemination

provides information objects to the Consumer

Document

Information having the property that its representing data items are chosen to support full information content transfer to a human through a presentation view.

Finding Aid

is a tool provided to the user that allows for a searching process to allow a user to identify and investigate potential holdings of interest.

Format

A specification of the allowed positions of entities within a space.

Independently Usable Information

Metadata must be sufficient for the data to be used by the designated user community without having to resort to special resources not widely available, including named individuals.

Information Object

An aggregation of information, not containing other information objects, that is considered suitable for being adequately documented for preservation, distribution and independent usage.

Information Set

The total information given by all the data item representations that are mapped entirely within a collection of underlying data item instances.

Information

Any type of knowledge that can be exchanged.

Ingest

accepts information objects from producers and prepare information objects for storage and management within the

archive

Logical Data

Information representation forms that are NOT directly physically observable, but are inferred from established rules.

Long-term Storage

long-term information preservation in which an "information package" containing both the information objects and the metadata needed to interpret the information is stored permanently

Management

interacts with the Archive by providing policy guidelines and by receiving statistics relevant to evaluating adherence to the policy guidelines it has provided

Media Information Set

An information set whose collection of underlying data item instances span an entire piece or extent of media.

Metadata

Data about other data.

Object Description Records

records describing information objects that contain all the relevant metadata for that object.

Observational Data

Information having the property that its representing data items are chosen to facilitate storage and manipulation of typically large data volumes

Permanent Data

the information that archive is tasked to preserve

Persistent Data

provides the records of the enterprise and is available for reuse

Physical Data

Information representation forms that are physically observable properties.

Physical Objects

a physical information object (such as a moon rock, biospecimen, microscope slide) that is considered suitable for being adequately documented for preservation, distribution and independent usage.

Preserve Information

The information is expected to be correctly and independently usable by the designated user community

.

[DMS - over an indefinite time period]

Producer

information objects (either digital or physical) to be archived and a description or metadata about each of these objects

Provenance

the need to document the historical context of an Information Object before it came to the archive as well as any changes to it while it is within an archive.

Reference Model

A reference model is a framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of some environment, and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment. A reference model is based on a small number of unifying concepts and may be used as a basis for education and explaining standards to a non-specialist.

Representation Methods

documentation that allows the interpretation of information objects from the bit level if the associated software becomes obsolete

Request Agreement

an agreement between the archive and the customer in which the physical details of the delivery such as media type and object format are specified.

Security

Storage

This entity provides the services and functions for the storage and retrieval of data objects, both logical and physical, including non-digital media.

Submission Agreement

an agreement reached between an archive and the producer that negotiates a data model for the Data Delivery session. This data model identifies format/contents and the logical constructs used by the producer and how they are represented on each media delivery or in the telecommunication session

Subscription Consumer

establishes a Request Agreement (i.e. a subscription) with the archive which may span any length of time with one or more Data Dissemination sessions usually with significant time gaps between the sessions agreed upon.

Traditional Archive

Transient Data

data which is produced, used, and discarded in day-to-day business operations

Wider Views