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1. DOMS Data model

TableOfContents

ImageLink(http://merkur/viewvc/trunk/docs/datamodel/fig/DOMSBaseCollection.png?root=doms&view=co,alt=DOMS base collection,width=1024)

The DOMS datamodel describes how the Type system underlying DOMS is realised in Fedora 3. The figure above will serve as a guide through the following sections.

1.1. DOMS Content Models

Fedora provides a repository for digital objects. All objects in the repository can, in principle, be unique, but Fedora provides a way of specifying that an object has a given type. Unfortunately, the type-definitions in Fedora, called Content Models, are rather simplistic by default. We use them as the basis of our type system, with certain enhancements.

For our purposes, there are two kinds of digital objects in Fedora

  • Data objects
  • Content Model objects

The Content Model object, as used in DOMS, describes the compulsary and legal content of an object of this type. It contains the information nessesary to verify if the given object is indeed of this type.

A data object can specify the Content Model describing its contents, via a fedora-model:hasModel relation. It can only have one such relation, and in DOMS we require it to be present. A data object will be said to "suscribe" to a Content Model.

1.1.1. Inheritance

A type system that does not allow for inheritance, will have limited use. In spite of this, the Fedora Content Models do not provide this functionality. We have built our own inheritance system for Content Models to compensate for this lack.

The special Content Model object "ContentModel_DOMS" is the root object. All Content Models must have an "extendsModel" relation to this object, possibly through a number of other Content Models. The complete description of a data object is defined as the set of the descriptions in the Content Model specified with "hasModel" and all Content Models that can be reached from this, by following "extendsModel" relations.

A Content Model can "extend" more than one other Content Model. When determining the inheritance tree, and which Content Models that override each others, questions can arise. From the starting Content Model, perform a Breadth-first search of the inheritance tree. For datastream described by the Content Models, use only the first description you find. All the others count as overridden.

1.1.2. Using a Content Model

A content model contain a plethora of information in many separate datastreams. To properly interface with the DOMS system, one must know how to interpret this information.

The important datastreams are detailed in the following sections

1.1.2.1. DS-COMPOSITE-MODEL

Fedoracontrolled structural datastream. Lists the required datastreams in the suscribing data objects and the MIME-type, which will almost always be text/xml

As this datastream is fedora-controlled, it does not respect our inheritance system. Therefore, it only mentions the datastreams that this particular content model requires to be present. In order to construct the complete list of required datastreams for a suscribing object, one must follow the "extendsModel" relations and concatenate the lists from these Content Models. Lastly, remove duplicates. Since this datastream only names required datastreams, there will be no issue with inheritance and overriding.

Example of the contents of a DS-COMPOSITE-MODEL datastream can be seen below 

                <dsCompositeModel
                        xmlns="info:fedora/fedora-system:def/dsCompositeModel#">
                    <dsTypeModel ID="DC">
                        <form MIME="text/xml"/>
                    </dsTypeModel>
                    <dsTypeModel ID="RELS-EXT">
                        <form MIME="application/rdf+xml"/>
                    </dsTypeModel>
                    <dsTypeModel ID="POLICY">
                        <form MIME="text/xml"/>
                    </dsTypeModel>
                    <dsTypeModel ID="AUDIT">
                        <form MIME="text/xml"/>
                    </dsTypeModel>
                </dsCompositeModel>

1.1.2.2. SCHEMABINDINGS

DS-COMPOSITE-MODEL lists the required datastreams, but make no statements about their contents. SCHEMABINDINGS does, albeit indirectly. For each required datastream in a suscribing object, it gives the name of a datastream in this Content Model containing a sort of schema for the contents. By "sort of schema", there is meant something that can be used both for validation of the contents and provides enough information to construct some human understandable interface to the contents.

At the moment there are two such schema lanquages, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Schema_(W3C) "xsd"] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Ontology_Language "owl"] lite. Owl lite is only ever used to express requirements about the RELS-EXT datastream. All other datastreams must be describable by xsd schemas.

There is a third option for schema language, which breaks somewhat with the above. As the reader knows, a fedora object, not matter the type, can be said to consist of three fundamental components.

  • Properties
  • Datastreams
  • Relations

While the relations are implemented as a datastream, the properties are not, but otherwise behave in much the same way. We wanted to be able to store information in the properties, and we therefore needed a way to describe the contents of properties. Properties are in fact two things, the internal properties, managed and used by fedora, and the external properties. The external properties are stored and handled by fedora, but are not used. These we want to be able to access and store information in. By introducing a name for a datastream "EXTPROPERTIES", which is understood to refer to the external properties, rather than a proper datastream, SCHEMABINDINGS can link the external properties to a schema.

We added a third possible schema language, "propschema", which will only ever be used if the described datastream is EXTPROPERTIES. The describing datastream will then consist of a number of rules, written in the language defined in the datastream SCHEMA in the object doms:Extprop_Schema. A non-authoriatively copy of this schema can be seen below. 

<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
            xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
            targetNamespace="http://doms.statsbiblioteket.dk/extproperties/0/1/#"
            xmlns="http://doms.statsbiblioteket.dk/extproperties/0/1/#"
            elementFormDefault="qualified"
            attributeFormDefault="unqualified">

    <xsd:element name="extproperties" type="extpropertiesType"/>

    <xsd:complexType name="extpropertiesType">
        <xsd:sequence>
            <xsd:element name="property" type="propertyType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
        </xsd:sequence>
    </xsd:complexType>

    <xsd:complexType name="propertyType">
        <xsd:choice maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="1">
            <xsd:element name="legal-values" type="valuesType"/>
            <xsd:element name="all-values"/>
        </xsd:choice>
        <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
    </xsd:complexType>

    <xsd:complexType name="valuesType">
        <xsd:sequence>
            <xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
        </xsd:sequence>
    </xsd:complexType>
</xsd:schema>

Many of the schemas used in DOMS need to be referenced many times. To avoid duplication, we have made objects containing only schemas, suscribing to the Content Model ContentModel_Schema. The describing datastream in a schemabinding might contain the schema directly, or it might contain the URL to the datastream that does. Either way, it should be invisible to programs accessing the datastream through the API.

1.1.2.2.1. Inheritance rules

1.1.2.3. VIEW

A view is a way of combining objects in the DOMS into a domain-relevant group. It is a way of seeing a number of objects as related - as a whole; information that can be useful for the GUI-generator when generating GUI-windows.

Those views that we imagine as being suitable for a screen or window in the GUI, are called main views. Each main view contains an object that the main view is centered around. We call this the main object, and the ID of this view is the ID of the main object. Views of other objects are simply called views. The main object is the object that represents the main view - other objects in that view are related to the main object and would presumably be relevant to edit in the GUI at the same time. For a CD modelled in DOMS, for example, a CD object would be the main object, and objects for tracks, cover, lyrics and so on would constitute the rest of the main view.

We imagine that results appearing in searches in the GUI will all be main views. In fact every view that will be the basis for a screen/window will be a main view.

A view for an object O is represented by a Datastream VIEW on the Content Model object for O. This Datastream also mark the object as Main, if this is the case. Please note that the view is defined on Content Model level, so the same rules are used to generate the view for all objects using that Content Model.

The datastream will just contain a list of relation names and reverse relation names. Following these relations will give you the view. Views are inherited when Content Models extends each other, so you should generate the view for each Content Model in the inheritance tree of this Object, and remove duplicates.

Definitions:

  • 1-step relations (relations on a content model c of the form "x rel y", meaning that if an object x with content model c has relation rel to another object y, then y will be part the view too. Examples of rel for a CD modelled in DOMS could be hasTrack, hasLyrics,..)

  • reverse relations (relations of the type "y rel x" on a content model c, where x has model c and y therefore will be included in the view for x)

In addition, we suggest to augment the 1-step approach with the idea of "includes". What this means is that when object O has a view defined by following relations from O once, and an object P is in the view of O, then the view of P will be included in the view of O.

View datastream contain xml of the form 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<view:views  xmlns:view="http://doms.statsbiblioteket.dk/types/views/0/1/#">
  <view:view name="GUI" mainobject="true">
    <view:relations>
      <doms:hasFile xmlns:doms="http://doms.statsbiblioteket.dk/relations/default/0/1/#"/>
    </view:relations>
    <view:inverse-relations>
      <doms:isPartOfCollection xmlns:doms="http://doms.statsbiblioteket.dk/relations/default/0/1/#"/>
    </view:inverse-relations>
    <view:datastreams>
      <view:datastream>DC</view:datastream>
    </view:datastreams>
  </view:view>
</view:views>

As can be seen, it describes all relations to be followed outwards, both directly and reverse. When including the object, only the named datastreams from the datastreams tag should be used. There can be several views, with different views in an object. The GUI should use the view with the name GUI.

1.1.3. Predefined Content Models

Shorthand:

  • myObject.myDatastream means the Datastream myDatastream in the Object myObject.
  • $variable introduces a variable.

1.1.3.1. ContentModel_DOMS

The following variables are used:

  • $Title: A human readable title
  • $PID: A generated PID for this object

  • $ContentModel: The content model for this object, must derive from ContentModel_DOMS

  • $Collection: The collection that this object belongs to. An object with a Content Model that derives from ContentModel_Collection

  • $LicenseObject: The License object that govern access to this object. An object with a Content Model that derives from ContentModel_License

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_DOMS

  • ObjectProperties

  • Datastreams

    • DC: Fedora required datastream with the [http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/qdc/dc.xsd Dublin Core schema].

      • dc:title = $Title
    • RELS-EXT: Fedora controlled relations between objects.
      • oai:itemID = $PID
        • (only required on harvested objects)

      • fedora-model:hasModel -> $ContentModel

      • doms:hasLicense -> $LicenseObject

      • doms:isPartOfCollection -> $Collection

    • AUDIT: Fedoracontrolled audit trail
    • POLICY Fedoracontrolled datastream describing the rights and restrictions on this object

      • ContentLocation URL = $LicenseObject.LICENCE

1.1.3.2. ContentModel_Image

The following variables are used:

  • $TiffFile: An object with the Content Model ContentModel_File and ContentModel_ImagePreservationFile

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_Image

1.1.3.3. ContentModel_Audio

The following variables are used:

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_Audio

  • Datastreams
    • RELS-EXT: One of the following

1.1.3.4. ContentModel_Video

The following variables are used:

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_Video

  • Datastreams
    • RELS-EXT: One of the following

1.1.3.5. ContentModel_Text

The following variables are used:

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_Text

  • Datastreams
    • RELS-EXT: Must have utf8. May contain pdf

1.1.3.6. ContentModel_License

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_License

1.1.3.7. ContentModel_Collection

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_Collection: None

1.1.3.8. ContentModel_File

The following variables are used:

  • $OrigFile: An object with the Content Model that derives from ContentModel_File;

Requirements for objects described by ContentModel_File

The characterisation datastream could look like this. 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<char:characterisation xsi:schemaLocation="http://developer.statsbiblioteket.dk/DOMS/types/characterisation/0/1/# http://developer.statsbiblioteket.dk/DOMS/types/characterisation/0/1/characterisation/characterisation-0-1.xsd"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:char="http://developer.statsbiblioteket.dk/DOMS/types/characterisation/0/1/#"
  xmlns:jhove="">
  <char:characterisationRun>
    <char:tool>JHove</char:tool>
    <char:output>
      <jhove:...>
      </jhove:...>
    </char:output>
  </char:characterisationRun>
</char:characterisation>

All the predefined subtypes of File bring no new requirements.

1.2. Collections

The DOMS system will be a system that models several collections of digital objects. Each object belongs to one or more collections. This is represented by having one or more "isPartOfCollection" relations to the parent collections. This goes for a collection object as well - it belongs to another collection. One collection has special status though: the "doms:Root_Collection" does not belong to any other collection, and is thus the bottom element for the "isPartOfCollection" relation. Every other collection has a "isPartOfCollection" relation to "doms:Root_Collection".

In addition, DOMS contains another special collection - the "doms:DOMS_Base_Collection". This collection provides objects such as content models and licenses that are utilized by (and mandatory for) the other collections in the DOMS. This collection is meant to be ingested as the first collection in the DOMS.

1.3. File Objects

In DOMS, we have found it beneficial to seperate the abstract concept of "Image" or "Audio" from the concrete implementations such as "jpeg" and "mp3". The metadata about the image will be relevant no matter the manifestation of the image, and as such should not reside along with the technical metadata about the manifestation. To support this separation, we have introduced the concept of File objects.

A File object is an object, that contain a link to the file (in Bitstorage), and the technical metadata about this file. Only File objects are allowed to reference a file in Bitstorage. File objects must all have a Content Model that extends ContentModel_File.

1.3.1. Preservation files

We have a special class of files in DOMS, the ones we are willing to promise to preserve. To represent this, the inheritance system is used. Four content models have been defined

Each of these have, as their only ancestor ContentModel_DOMS. They, like ContentModel collection, make no demands of the objects suscribing to them.

There are eight formats that we trust to preserve

  • Images: Tiff
  • Audio: Wav, Bwf
  • Video: Mpeg1, Mpeg2
  • Text: Utf8, Pdf

For each of these we have made a Content Model, which inherit from ContentModel_File and the relevant ContentModel_????PreservationFile above.

An image object (ie. an object suscribing to ContentModel_Image) must have a doms:hasPreservationFile to an object whose Content Model inherit from both ContentModel_File and ContentModel_ImagePreservationFile. As such, content models for other file formats can and will be introduces into DOMS, without them automatically being preservation files.

For some collections

Presentation files generally are dynamically generated upon request.

1.3.2. Technical Metadata

A file object should contain technical metadata. In this context it refers

  • A datastream with the output of the characterisation tools used on this file upon ingest, called CHARACTERISATION
  • A datastream with the metadata about the origins of the file, called Origin

In addition, it must have a relation "hasOriginal" if it was migrated from another file that exists in DOMS.

1.4. Views

1.5. Licenses

Licenses, in DOMS, have, as their only purpose, to restrict who can view what material. They are only a concern for people using the material in DOMS, not users working with the GUI, or otherwise administrating the contents.

Licenses are implemented by using the Fedora XACML engine. When a user authenticates with the Fedora server (or with a server passing authentication tokens to the DOMS), he gets a number of attributes. Each of these attributes name one license that the user can access material under.

Each data object in DOMS has a POLICY datastream. This datastream is just an URL, referring to a License object's LICENCE datastream. This datastream is an XACML stream, that evaluates if the user posses the attribute that specify that the user can use this License. If yes, the user is granted access to the original object, otherwise he is denied.

1.6. Audit Trail

Each user that will use the GUI will need to login. They will authenticate with some external server, probably the SB LDAP server. The access control is not really a concern for the DOMS system. As such, all GUI users will have equal and full access to the DOMS repository.

Audit trails, however, are a concern. Each change to a datastream in a data object will, per default Fedora behaivour, create a new version of this datastream, marked with the creation time and the username. For this reason the Fedora operations PurgeObject and PurgeDatastream are blocked, as they destroy the audit trail. Real deletion of information is not possible, but both objects and datastreams can be marked as "deleted", again per standard Fedora behaviour. Any tools working with or on DOMS should respect this flag. The GUI should only concern itself with the most recent version of a datastream.

DataModel (last edited 2010-03-17 13:13:00 by localhost)