Re: [ARSCLIST] A reserach project

[Ganesh.Irelan@xxxxxxxx]

	Dear Alessandro,

	As someone involved in the implementation of the Reference Model for an OAIS I was happy to see someone refer to it on this list.  As far as your project to define the structural Representation Information for sound documents in the way you described, it would be an ambitious undertaking, and one that would likely require the support of standards bodies and professional organizations like AES, EBU, IASA, etc. for widespread acceptance.  

	That said, audio engineers already understand the need to capture basic technical metadata about sound documents.  As you must know, that is a prerequisite to accurate reproduction, not to mention preservation.  See the IASA publication TC-04 for details.  Additionally, there is the need to document the history of processing that a given recording has undergone.  This is an area that could use development and something you seem to want to focus on.  If you haven't already seen it you might find the recommended format for the Coding History field in bwf files interesting
	 http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/fr/tec_text_r98-1999_tcm7-4709.pdf  
	I have adapted this recommendation for use with other types of sound documents.  As far as specifying the computing environment needed to reproduce a recording, that might be difficult since there are so many possibilities, combinations of software, hardware, and quality issues involved over time.

	I hope this is helpful.
	Sincerely,
	Kevin