Laatimat

Laatimat is a term used in discussions of digital curation and information governance to describe a structured process for recording, validating, and preserving the provenance and quality of digital artifacts. It encompasses metadata creation, provenance capture, quality checks, and version control integrated into a single workflow.

The concept arose in academic and industry discourse during the 2010s, with multiple organizations adopting its ideas in different forms. There is no single formal standard for laatimat, and definitions vary by domain, leading to a family of related practices rather than a universal protocol.

A typical laatimat workflow includes four stages: metadata capture, automated validation, human review and decision logging, and publication with versioned records. It relies on a defined metadata schema, a set of validation rules, and an auditable ledger to support reproducibility, traceability, and interoperability across systems.

Advocates argue that laatimat improves searchability, data quality, and trust in digital repositories and publishing platforms. Critics note the overhead of implementing the workflow, the need for governance to prevent rigid rules, and the challenge of maintaining consistency across diverse data types and systems. Variants of laatimat are found in libraries, archives, research data services, and digital publishing environments.

See also: metadata, provenance, digital preservation, quality assurance.