A couple of months ago I reported on this blog that the OPF was beginning a project to investigate options for a new approach to file format registries. We’ve just released the second report of this activity: “A New Registry for Digital Preservation: Conceptual Overview“. (330kB PDF); It explains our vision of a ‘registry ecosystem’ that will enable organisations worldwide to contribute and share information about file formats, while maintaining the ability to make independent and local decisions about preservation policies.
Please take a look and tell us what you think – leave a comment here or send me a mail (bill@swirrl.com).
The document explains the reasons why we think a new approach to file format registries is required and outlines the main requirements for such a registry. Our plan for the rest of 2011 is to start putting some of this into action: see the ‘Planning’ section of the report for details.
Most importantly, we’d like to ask for your input and contributions to this process:
We’re hoping for the usual insightful and thought-provoking comments from the readers of the OPF blog!