High Level Description / Objectives

Digital Object Management (DOM) consist of the set of processes (selection, acquisition, ingest, management, preservation) required to maintain and provide access to digital information in an authentic form, for as long as required and across changing technical environments. Digital Object Management is closely related to the term “digital data curation”. Data curation is the selection, preservation, maintenance, and archiving of digital assets and it establishes, maintains and adds value to data for present and future use (source: DCC). The aim of DOM and digital curation is to mitigate digital obsolescence, keeping the information accessible to users indefinitely.

Digital Object Management is closely related to the core principles and responsibilities of the OAIS model. An OAIS (Open Archival Information System) is an archive consisting of an organization, which may be part of a larger organization, of people and systems, that has accepted the responsibility to preserve information and make it available for a Designated Community (OAIS, CCSDS 650.0-M-2). By fulfilling the Capability Requirement Area of Digital Object Management an archive or repository have come a long way in adhering to the mandatory responsibilities and the core functions of an OAIS archive [maps to Annex 2, section 7].

Introduction

The Capability Requirement Area (CPA) of Digital Object Management is divided into three different Capability Process Areas (CPAs) which each has its own main purpose or goal. The model identifies the following set of CPAs: