Contents:
- Introduction and scope
- Background and developments to date
- Documentation of formats
- Format relationships
- Development of preservation friendly formats
- How the topic applies to Digital Curation
- Format identification
- Format validation
- Characterization
- Assessment
- Topic in action
- Standardization
- Ingest workflow
- Preservation strategies
- Notification and recommendation systems
- Next steps
- Future developments
- Conclusions
- References: Print, Online
- Fora
- Terminology
- An annotated list of key external resources.
This chapter, File Formats, from the Digital Curation Manual, begins with a conceptual framework for format and then goes on to discuss different aspects of format description, validation and characterization. It explains how format relates to the long term curation and usability of digital data and includes overviews of related projects and developments in the field as well as describing related available tools. The preservation strategies migration and emulation are discussed in terms of format and the development of automated systems is this area is also discussed. It includes extensive references.
This chapter is not a detailed technical description of audio-visual file formats. It provides important background reading for digital curation managers, convincingly demonstrating “the central position that format plays in preservation and access environments.” In addition, it makes its case about the need for broad collaboration in the development of format registries and best practice guidelines regarding the selection of formats in specific curation contexts.