Dokumentvaries

Dokumentvaries is a framework used in information management to describe and manage variants of documents across languages, formats, and revisions. The term combines the Scandinavian roots for document (dokument) and variants (varier/varies) and is used to denote a systematic approach to capturing how a document evolves over time and in different contexts.

At its core, Dokumentvaries relies on a variant graph that records relationships between documents: originals, translations, revisions, abridgments, and format conversions. Each variant receives a persistent identifier and metadata describing its provenance, language, format, rights, and creation context. The framework emphasizes lineage, allowing users to trace back to the original content and to all downstream derivatives.

Metadata and representation: a Dokumentvaries record typically combines metadata schemas such as Dublin Core for basic attributes, PREMIS for preservation information, and METS for packaging, with a lightweight graph model expressed in RDF or XML. This enables querying by content lineage, language, or format, and supports automated preservation actions.

Applications: libraries, archives, museums, and research infrastructures adopt Dokumentvaries to improve discovery, provenance, rights management, and reproducibility. It supports multi-language collections, digitization workflows, and long-term preservation by documenting how each variant was produced and transformed.

History and scope: the concept emerged in digital preservation and document-management communities in the 2010s as an answer to fragmentation in metadata and format migrations. While not standardized as a single protocol, it informs several practical implementations and interoperability layers in modern CMS and archival systems. See also: metadata, preservation metadata, version control, document management system.