A quiz to test your knowledge of OAIS

Metadata, which is normally defined as “data about data”, can be anything from a book containing a detailed bit-level description of the data to a database entry which allows one to find the data.

An AIP is created by the repository to ensure that all the information needed for Long Term Preservation of the Content Information is available.

Packages from other sources, such as SIPs, need, at the very least, additional Provenance about the source of the package to become an AIP.

The Functional Model is not mentioned in the Conformance section (section 1.4) of OAIS which states:

A conforming OAIS Archive implementation shall support the model of information described in 2.2. The OAIS Reference Model does not define or require any particular method of implementation of these concepts.

A conforming OAIS Archive shall fulfill the responsibilities listed in 3.1. Subsection 3.2 provides examples of the mechanisms that may be used to discharge the responsibilities identified in 3.1. These mechanisms are not required for conformance

The Functional Model provides useful terminology that is applicable to all disciplines and organizations that do, or expect to, preserve and provide information in digital form, these terms cannot match all of those familiar to any particular discipline (e.g., traditional Archives, digital libraries, science data centers). Rather, the approach taken is to use terms that are not already overloaded with meaning so as to reduce conveying unintended meanings. This terminology then allows clear communication about archives between those with different backgrounds.

The Conformance section of OAIS (section 1.4) states:

This reference model does not specify a design or an implementation. Actual implementations may group or break out functionality differently.

It is assumed that implementers will use this reference model as a guide while developing a specific implementation to provide identified services and content. This document does not assume or endorse any specific computing platform, system environment, system design paradigm, system development methodology, database management system, database design paradigm, data definition language, command language, system interface, user interface, technology, or media required for implementation.

The OAIS Reference Model is designed as a conceptual framework in which to discuss and compare Archives. As such, it attempts to address all the major activities of an information-preserving Archive in order to define a consistent and useful set of terms and concepts. A standard or other document that claims to be conformant to the OAIS Reference Model shall use the terms and concepts defined in the OAIS Reference Model in the same manner.

Section 4.2.2.3 states:

Figure 4-18 gives a detailed view of the Archival Information Package by expanding the PDI and the Content Information. All the ‘contains’ relationships discussed in this subsection are logical containment relationships. This type of containment relationship may be physical or may be accomplished via a pointer to another object in storage, so an AIP is not necessarily a single file.

Different repositories can define different Designated Communities for the digital objects they hold, even if they hold the same digital objects.

OAIS defines a Succession Plan as:

The plan of how and when the management, ownership and/or control of the OAIS holdings will be transferred to a subsequent OAIS in order to ensure the continued effective preservation of those holdings.

An AIP must at least record the fact that the repository has accepted responsibility to preserve the information in the SIP, even if the SIP is exactly the same as an AIP from another repository.

OAIS defines Authenticity as:

The degree to which a person (or system) regards an object as what it is purported to be. Authenticity is judged on the basis of evidence.

As shown in Figure 4-13 a general Information Package, including a SIP, is allowed to have zero Content Information and zero PDI , in which case it is empty.

OAIS conformance does not require that the Producer verifies the SIP nor that an SIP is never rejected.