Global Digital Format Registry Progress

1
Global Digital Format Registry Progress

• Andrea Goethals, Harvard University Library
• NDIIPP Digital Preservation Partners Meeting
• Arlington, VA
• July 9, 2008

2
Agenda

• GDFR?
• History Context
• Relationship to PRONOM
• Current state
• Upcoming plans
• Challenges ahead
• Questions

3
GDFR?

• What?
• Global Digital Format Registry
• A pooled body of information about digital
  formats
• Both common and obscure formats
• XML to Quake II 3D Model File
• Information
• Format-specific
• associated agents, technologies,
  specifications, assessments
• Why?
• Reference for digital preservation activities

4
GDFR History
5
GDFR History in Context of PRONOM
6
GDFR-PRONOM Relationship

• Two different format registries
• How many format registries does the digital
  preservation community need?
• Depends on how different they are

7
GDFR-PRONOM core differences

• Who governs the registry and makes policy, scope
  and enhancement decisions?
• PRONOM TNA
• GDFR community-based
• Who adds and edits format information?
• PRONOM TNA (accepts requests)
• GDFR community-based
• Where is the format information physically
  located?
• PRONOM at TNA
• GDFR replicated in different geographic
  locations
• Sufficient differences to continue with GDFR

8
Current state
9
GDFR Home website

• It moved!
• Old GDFR Home http//www.formatregistry.org
• New GDFR Home http//www.gdfr.info
• All existing GDFR docs migrated from the old GDFR
  Home website
• Over the next month
• Updated documentation!
• Demo source node?

10
Architecture

• Currently
• One GDFR source node
• Where all data additions and edits are performed
• Many GDFR mirror nodes
• Replicated data
• Future?
• Multiple GDFR source nodes?
• Multiple interoperable format registry source
  nodes?
• Discoverable from GDFR Home website
• Each node has 2 Interfaces
• For humans user interface
• For machines web service interface

11
GDFR source node

• Housed by Harvard for now
• http//www.formatregistry.org/registry
• In test mode until August 1 then will be
  publicly available in beta mode
• Populated with test data- 2000 formats from
  Magic database
• Will need an authorized account to add/edit data

12
GDFR mirror nodes

• Test mirror nodes at OCLC and Harvard
• Anyone will be able to run a mirror node
• Software available for download August 1 from the
  GDFR Home website
• Installation configuration half day
• Can brand your mirror node

13
User interface

• Mirror node
• Search, browse, read, export, manage node
• Source node
• Same as mirror node
• Plus add, edit
• Sneak preview

14
Upcoming plans

• Tomorrow pilot planning meeting
• Pilot purposes
• Create process for building the registry
• Integrate GDFR with tools, repository software
  and workflows
• Governance questions (headed by NARA)

15
Challenges ahead

• Resolving relationship to PRONOM
• Quality or quantity?
• Is there a large enough community of format
  contributors?
• Do we need a simpler data entry interface?
• Integrating tools and services
• How to handle documentation
• Preservation
• Proprietary formats
• Governance

16
Questions?