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Re: PDF As A Standard



Dear all

Just a few points about PDF and its use as a "standard" in the Victorian
Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) in reply to Maverick Collier.

VERS recommended the use of PDF for 'document type' electronic records
together with XML as a way of preserving the content and context of
electronic records. There are a number of points to make about PDF:

1. While PDF is a proprietary format, Adobe have formally published a
description of the format. The key criterion for choosing a format for
preservation is the 'public library' test: a good archival format is one
that is so widely published that a description of the format can be found
in a public library (or the electronic equivalent) for the indefinite
future. A widely published format means that, if worst comes to worse, a
viewer for the format can be recreated in the future.

2. As others have pointed out, Adobe make the PDF viewer freely available
and Internet Explorer and Netscape can both incorporate the viewer as a
plug-in so most PC/Mac users can view PDF files with little or no
difficulty through their web browsers.

3. PDF is also a useful format in recordkeeping because it displays (for
the most part) what the original creator actually saw on the desktop (be it
email, word processed documents, spreadsheets, images, etc). PDF also has
the ability to store text in a searchable form. This is useful when trying
to provide access to records in PDF because full text searching methods are
able to be employed. This gives PDF an advantage over image based formats
like TIFF and JPEG.

4. The Victorian Electronic Records Strategy did not recommend the use of
PDF lightly. We realise that it is not an ideal format in many ways. We
would have preferred to have chosen a format which was open and simple,
however, electronic records are complex in structure and any format which
attempts to accurately render those needs also to be complex. We had a
number of criteria which we looked for in a preservation format for
document type records; PDF best fitted these criteria, but was not a
perfect match.

We do not believe that PDF will be around forever. We do believe that PDF
will be around as an 'active' format for a while and will be legible for
some time after. In terms of preservation PDF is a better bet than keeping
all those records in their native (and usually completely proprietary)
formats.

Finally, I should also point out that the Victorian Electronic Records
Strategy recommends the use of XML to encapsulate the record content (in
PDF or other suitable form) with metadata related to the record and its
long term preservation.

For more information please visit the VERS home page at (slight correction
to Maverick's URL) http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/ or contact me at the
email address below.

Justine Heazlewood
Business Development Manager, Victorian Electronic Records Strategy
Public Record Office Victoria (Australia)
+61 3 9285-7938; +61 413-733-299; fax +61 3 9285-7953
justine.heazlewood@dpc.vic.gov.au
http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/

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