Semantic Units of the PREMIS Data Dictionary
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| Containers | Current | Descendants |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - Object | 1.5 objectCharacteristics | 1.5.1 compositionLevel 1.5.2 fixity 1.5.3 size 1.5.4 format 1.5.5 creatingApplication 1.5.6 inhibitors 1.5.7 objectCharacteristicsExtension |
| Semantic unit | 1.5 objectCharacteristics |
|---|---|
| Definition | Technical properties of a file or bitstream that are applicable to all or most formats. |
| Applicability | Bitstream, File |
| Obligation | Mandatory |
| Repeatability | Repeatable |
| Rationale | There are some important technical properties that apply to objects of any format. Detailed definition of format-specific properties is outside the scope of this Data Dictionary, although such properties may be included within objectCharacteristicsExtension. |
| Data constraint | Container |
| Usage notes | The semantic units included in objectCharacteristics should be treated as a set of information that pertains to a single object at a single compositionLevel. Object characteristics may be repeated when an object was created by applying two or more encodings, such as compression and encryption. In this case each repetition of objectCharacteristics would have an incrementally higher compositionLevel. When encryption is applied, the objectCharacteristics block must include an inhibitors semantic unit. A bitstream embedded within a file may have different object characteristics than the file. Where these characteristics are relevant for preservation, they should be recorded. |