Archiving in the networked world: resource description framework

The aim of this paper is to examine a project where resource description framework (RDF) is expected to function both in the short term and over long periods. Because RDF is comparatively new, the library and information science literature has scarcely addressed the issues.

The article analyses RDF from the perspective of the requirements for long term digital archiving, with special emphasis on the need for maintaining integrity and usability.

RDF and RDFa (resource description framework in attributes) encoding can be archived, but the external references that make RDF function may change their meaning or vanish over time, unless efforts are made to archive them too and to provide time‐based context information through mechanisms like Memento. RDF‐based “triple store” databases can likewise be archived.

The value of this article lies in its examination of how RDF and its variants will work within the constraints of current long term digital archiving systems. RDF is relatively new, but its proponents see it as a long term enhancement of the web and of internet‐connected projects. This requires some consideration about how it will function in 100 years or more.