Documentthing

Documentthing is a conceptual framework for encoding documents in a structured, machine-readable form, integrating content, metadata, version history, and provenance. The goal is to enable interoperability among diverse software tools by providing a uniform representation that can be serialized, validated, and rendered across platforms.

A documentthing document consists of a content tree paired with descriptive metadata. Content is modeled as typed nodes such as paragraph, section, figure, list, table, and embedded media, each carrying attributes and cross-links. Metadata covers authorship, creation and modification dates, language, rights, schema version, and provenance trails showing origin and transformations over time. A schema registry and extension mechanism support domain-specific vocabularies.

Serialization formats for documentthing data include JSON, XML, and YAML, with a canonical form and schema-based validation. The framework emphasizes integrity and provenance through cryptographic hashes, optional digital signatures, timestamping, and version control. Access control and encryption options address security requirements for sensitive documents.

Lifecycle support includes draft, review, publication, and archival states, along with collaboration features such as comments, annotations, and change tracking. Rendering hints separate content from presentation, enabling consistent layout while allowing targeted styling for different output formats and devices.

Status and adoption: documentthing remains a hypothetical framework used in research and demonstration projects rather than a universal standard. Proposals and reference implementations explore interoperability with existing document formats and knowledge-graph technologies, and the concept continues to evolve through community feedback and academic discussion.