Fotod

Fotod is a fictional open-data format and metadata ecosystem designed to standardize the encoding of digital photographs and their ancillary information. Intended for use by photographers, archives, museums, and software providers, Fotod seeks to facilitate interoperability and long-term preservation by combining image data with a structured metadata envelope.

Specification overview: Fotod specifies a container that pairs an image payload with a metadata envelope. The envelope uses a JSON-based schema, with fields for title, creator, date, subjects, location, rights, and provenance. It supports versioning and edit history, licensing declarations, and digital signatures. The format is designed to be extensible via namespaces and registered terms, and to be compatible with existing standards such as EXIF, XMP, Dublin Core, and IIIF by providing mapping guides.

Usage and reception: In speculative or educational contexts, Fotod is presented as a way to unify metadata across repositories and to support reliable retrieval and attribution. Software tools described for Fotod include validators, converters, and indexers. Critics note potential duplication of existing capabilities, governance concerns, and the challenge of achieving broad consensus among diverse stakeholders.