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Dear all, At the Portuguese National Archives we are developing a digital repository for preserving authentic digital objects based on Fedora Commons. The repository fully supports PREMIS and has adopted all of its current terminology. For example, we completely abandoned the term "digital object" (because it was dubious) to begin talking about Representations, which are composed of Files, which are composed of Bitstreams/Bytestreams. I'm not sure which terminology other institutions are using both locally and internationally, but to us at the University of Minho and the National Archives, the PREMIS terminology as it is now makes perfect sense. Best regards, Miguel Ferreira - - Miguel Ferreira (researcher) Department of Information Systems University of Minho Campus de Azurém 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal http://www.dsi.uminho.pt/~ferreira/ Phone: +351 253 510 261 / FAX: +351 253 510 300 / Ext.: 510261 On Oct 28, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Evan Owens wrote: > Hi Priscilla, > > > > We use rendition rather than representation as the term in our own > work at Portico. I don't think that the GPO's use of rendition is > problematic: a PDF rendition is a single format single object > while an HTML rendition is a compound object made up of one or more > files. In our internal content model, the logical object (a > journal article) includes a basket of components (XML, PDF, GIF, > TIFF, JPEG, MPEG, etc. etc.) which can make up multiple renditions > (print, web HTML, web PDF). We classify all the pieces in this > basket by function: PDF are page renditions, HTML are web > renditions, and most of the rest are components referenced by the > renditions. We are just now encountering for the first time PDF > files with links to external objects such spreadsheets; it looks > like the PDF is getting to be more like the HTML in terms of > compoundness. Our basic assumption for e-journals is that there > are multiple renditions of a given intellectual object; that isn’t > true for all kinds of content of course. But I still like > rendition as a term. > > > > I recently found a diagram from November 2003 that I did for one of > the early PreMIS discussions trying to sort out migration > relationships (horizontal) and compound rendition relationships > (vertical). We didn’t end up implementing this exactly this way at > Portico, but the picture is interesting. I’ve included it below. > > > > ---- Evan > > > > Figure 1 > > <image001.jpg> > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: PREMIS Implementors Group Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of Priscilla Caplan > Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 1:00 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [PIG] should we use a different term for representation? > > > > This question came up at the last Editorial Committee call and we > > decided to test the waters by asking the PIG: Should we use a > different > > term for "representation"? > > > > In PREMIS, a representation is defined as a "Digital Object > > instantiating or embodying an Intellectual Entity. A representation is > > the set of stored Files and structural metadata needed to provide a > > complete and reasonable rendition of the Intellectual Entity." All > > semantic units in the PREMIS data dictionary are defined as > appropriate > > to Files, Bitstreams or Representations. > > > > The original working group used the term "representation" partly to > > avoid confusion with the FRBR term "manifestation". The two concepts > > are close enough to cause confusion but not identical. We were > aware of > > the meaning of "representation information" in OAIS, but we thought > the > > OAIS concept and the PREMIS concept were different enough that there > > would be no confusion. > > > > I'm not sure that has been the case. There does seem to be some > > confusion over what a PREMIS representation is, but I don't know if > any > > of it is due to confusion with the OAIS representation. > > > > In any case, it may not be wise to use the same term with two > different > > meanings within the same (preservation) community. So, should we > try to > > come up with a different term for the PREMIS representation now, as > the > > Data Dictionary is being revised? Or leave it be, since nobody has > > actually complained about the term (that we know). > > > > And those who think we should use another term, what term might be > > preferable? I have thought of "rendition" but the US Government > > printing office uses that term in their FDsys with a different > meaning, > > as an "Instance of a publication expressed using a specific digital > > format". Something has to convey the idea that a representation may > > consist of more than one file, and that the files can have different > > formats. Perhaps "assembly"? > > > > p > >