GDFR - Global Digital Format Registry
Welcome About GDFR UDFR Documentation Wiki Download Links

Global Digital Format Registry Documentation

Meetings and Presentations

  • Minutes of GDFR Pilot Discussion Meeting, NARA, Washington DC, July 10, 2008. [PDF/A-1]
  • Presentation given at the GDFR pilot discussion meeting at NARA in Washington D.C on July 10, 2008. [PPT]

Software

User Documentation

Developer Documentation

Specifications

  • "GDFR Registry Node System Design v 0.1". Andreas Stanescu, OCLC; December 07, 2006. [PDF]

Data Model

  • Data Model [ May 22, 2008 ]
    "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.5.0.14". Stephen Abrams and Andrea Goethals, Harvard University Library; May 22, 2008. [PDF/A-1] Description of the faceted classification scheme for formats.
  • Format Classification [ November 9, 2007 ]
    "Classification v.1.05". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; November 09, 2007. [PDF/A-1]
  • Format Model and Relationships [ November 5, 2007 ]
    "Format Model and Relationships v. 1.0.7". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; November 5, 2007. [PDF/A-1]

Announcements

  • HUL/OCLC agreement [ July 3, 2006 ]
    The Harvard University Library and OCLC have signed an agreement under which OCLC will staff and performt the technical work for the GDFR project.
  • Job opportunities with the GDFR projects [ january 18, 2006]
    Job opportunities with the GDFR projects.
    [Note that both project positions have been filled (July 3, 2006)]
  • HUL receives Mellon grant for GDFR [ December 13, 2005 ]
    "Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Awards $600,000 to HUL for Global Digital Format Registry. The Harvard University Library (HUL) has received a grant of $600,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the development of a registry of authoritative information about digital formats."
  • FRED [ March 23, 2004 ]
    "FRED (Format REgistry Demonstration) is an experimental system that demonstrates a simple digital format registry service. Folks who are interested in creating a global digital format registry can use FRED to see what information is useful to put in such a registry, contribute and maintain sample information, and try out some ideas for viewing and managing this information. The information model is based on models discussed in meetings of the Global Digital Format Registry group that is sponsored by the Digital Library Federationn."

Articles / White Papers

  • Abrams, Stephen L. Establishing a Global Format Registry; Library Trends 54.1 (2005) 125-143.
    Excerpt - "Detailed knowledge of the internal properties of digital representation formats is necessary to interpret properly the full information content of otherwise opaque digital objects. These properties form an important component of the representation information needed by repository workflows regardless of local preservation strategy and infrastructure decisions. . . . A sustainable GDFR should prove to be of great utility to archives, libraries, digital repositories, and other organizations and individuals interested in the long-term viability of digital assets."

Data Models

  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.5.0.10". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; November 09, 2007. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.5.0.8". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; June 12, 2007. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.4". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; December 1, 2004. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.3". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; December 22, 2003. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.2". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; May 29, 2003. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Data Model v.1". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; February 24, 2003. [PDF/A-1]

Designs/Specifications

  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) Identifiers v.1.0.5". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; November 09, 2007. [PDF/A-1]

Meetings and Workshops

  • GDFR Technical Working Group Meeting, Harvard University, November 6-7, 2006. Recorded by Leah Houser, OCLC. [PDF/A-1]
  • GDFR BOF at DLF, (need place and date). Recorded by Leah Houser, OCLC. [TEXT]
  • Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) session [ November 18, 2003 ]
    Digital Libary Federation (DLF) Fall Forum, Albuquerque
  • Workshop [ March 25-26, 2003 ]
    Digital Library Federation (DLF)-sponsored invitational workshop, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
  • Workshop [ January 24, 2003 ]
    Digital Library Federation (DLF)-sponsored invitational workshop, University of Pennsylvania

Ontologies

  • "Format Registry Ontology". Stephen Abrams; Harvard University Library, March 10, 2003. [PDF/A-1]

Plans/Proposals

  • "Node Interoperability Test Plan" Andreas Stanescu, OCLC, March 3, 2008. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Implementation Plan" Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; June 05, 2006. [PDF/A-1]
  • "A Proposal for a Global Digital Format Registry". Stephen Abrams and Dale Flecker, Harvard University Library; September 29, 2005. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Towards a Registry for Format Representation Information". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; Revision 2; March 27, 2003. [PDF/A-1]
  • "Proposal for a Format Registry for Digital Library Preservation". Stephen Abrams, Harvard University Library; March 01, 2003. [PDF/A-1]

Presentations

  • A brief update on the GDFR project was presented at the July 19-20, 2006, NDIIPP (National Digitial Information Infrastructure Preservation Program) Partner's Meeting. [PPT]
  • "Global Digital Format Registry"
    Stephen L. Abrams and David Seaman, IS&T Archiving Conference, San Antonio, April 20-23, 2004
    Excerpt - "The digital preservation community needs a sustainable registry from which it can reliably recover authoritative format representation information defined at arbitrary levels of granularity. . . . GDFR is intended to maintain persistent, unambiguous bindings between public identifiers for digital formats and representation information for those formats."
  • "Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR)"
    Stephen Abrams, DSpace User Group Meeting, MIT, March 10-11, 2004
  • Towards a Global Format Registry
    Stephen L. Abrams and David Seaman, World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA GeneralConference and Council, Berlin, August 1-9, 2003
    Excerpt - "The concept of format permeates all technical areas of digital repository architecture and operation. Proper interpretation of otherwise opaque content streams is dependent upon knowledge of how typed content is represented. The international digital library and archival communities have expressed their need for a sustainable, global registry of digital representation formats for the purpose of fulfilling their mission."
  • "A Registry for Digital Format Representation Information" [ May 2003 ]
    Stephen L. Abrams and Mackenzie Smith, DLF Spring Forum, New York, May 14-16, 2003
  • "Global Digital Format Registry" [ May 2003 ]
    Stephen L. Abrams, Ready to Wear: Metadata Standards to Suit Your Project, An RLG-CIMI Forum, New York, May 12-13, 2003

Requirements and Design

  • "GDFR Analysis Model, v. 2.0; October 1, 2007. [PDF]
    High level requirements, use cases, domain model.
  • "GDFR Technology Platform, v. 0.2; January 04, 2007. [PDF]

Schedules

  • Initial schedule, September 13, 2006. [PDF]
  • Schedule, November 16, 2006. [PDF]
  • Schedule, March 30, 2007. [PDF]

Software and Architecture Design

  • "Global Format Registry Service Architecture". MS; March 11, 2003. [PDF/A-1]

Supporting References

  • "Interoperable Web Systems Architecture - Registry Extension (IWSA-Reg)". Jeffrey A. Young; July 24, 2006. [HTML]
  • "Interoperable Web Systems Architecture (IWSA)". Jeffrey A. Young; July 22, 2006. [HTML]
    A conceptual model for implementing Web Systems.

Use Cases (2003)

Assess risk associated with a digital format [ Bibliothèque nationale de France ]
bnf-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Collection audit [ Bibliothèque nationale de France ]
bnf-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Validate ingest of a digital object with a new format [ Bibliothèque nationale de France ]
bnf-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Determine the representation format of a digital object [ Harvard University ]
harvard-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Validate a digital object with respect to its representation format [ Harvard University ]
harvard-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Perform function to monitor for technology obsolescence and maintain/update registry as required [ JISC ]
jisc-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Notify the Registry of external information about a format and of external rendering methods [ JISC ]
jisc-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Update a local copy of the format registry by requesting a batch download of new or changed records from the Central Registry [ JSTOR ]
jstor-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Central Registry broadcasts updates to Local Registries who subscribe to the update service [ JSTOR ]
jstor-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Repository submits a proposed new format to Central Registry [ JSTOR ]
jstor-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Identify rendering conditions for a digital object [ MIT ]
mit-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Update registry with a new digital format [ MIT ]
mit-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Validation of data files in a SIP [ New York University ]
nyu-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Clarification of data format version [ New York University ]
nyu-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Determination regarding migration of archived materials [ New York University ]
nyu-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Add format descriptor [ OCLC ]
oclc-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Update format descriptor [ OCLC ]
oclc-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Get format descriptor [ OCLC ]
oclc-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Search for format descriptor [ OCLC ]
oclc-4.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Get all format descriptors [ OCLC ]
oclc-5.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Determine the format of a given digital object [ OCLC ]
oclc-11.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Transform the given digital object into a different format [ OCLC ]
oclc-12.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Validate the purported format of a given digital object [ OCLC ]
oclc-13.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Render the given digital object to the user's output device [ OCLC ]
oclc-14.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Submit new format to registry [ National Archives (UK) ]
pro-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Identify object format [ National Archives (UK) ]
pro-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Extract metadata from object [ National Archives (UK) ]
pro-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Identify migration pathway for format [ National Archives (UK) ]
pro-4.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Determine appropriate migration path for a digital object [ University of Pennsylvania ]
penn-1.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Make new conversion or analysis service known to format registry clients [ University of Pennsylvania ]
penn-2.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Develop new conversion or analysis service for a data format [ University of Pennsylvania ]
penn-3.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]
Improve method for determining the representation format of object [ University of Pennsylvania ]
penn-4.pdf [ PDF/A-1 ]