A scalable generic metadata Schema

The TOTEM Metadata Schema builds on research on extant metadata standards and their capacity to accommodate detailed, accurate documentation of the technical environment necessary to render various file types and software applications. Specifically,(Anderson, Delve et al., 2009) exposed gaps in current metadata standards with regards to documenting technical specifications. In doing so, their report further identified the need for a platform to comprehensively and consistently describe technical environments, in order for emulation to work as a digital preservation solution. Based on these recommendations, (Delve, Anderson, & Ciuffreda, 2010) analysed the specific requirements for technical environment metadata through use cases for representative types of digital objects. The study presented an inaugural, generic data model, which covers “all the possibilities of emulating a wide range of digital objects, both atomic and complex, on a variety of hardware platforms” and therefore caters for in-depth documentation of technical environments. The TOTEM Metadata Schema derives from the aforementioned data model, expanding on its original implementation as a technical registry database to enable the KEEP Emulation Framework to function.