defmati

Defmati is a framework and standard for documenting digital artifacts, focusing on metadata and material provenance to ensure reproducibility and integrity. It is not a single file format, but a cohesive data model and protocol used to describe the origins, handling, and state of digital objects throughout their life cycle.

The name defmati is an acronym for Definitive Metadata and Temporal Integrity. The concept emerged from a collaborative effort among digital preservation and data management groups during the late 2010s and was formalized as an open standard in the early 2020s.

Core components include a metadata schema with fields such as artifact_id, title, creators, creation_date, version, and checksum, plus a provenance_chain and event_log. Defmati prescribes a verification protocol that combines cryptographic hashing with time-stamped records and supports content-addressable storage.

Applications span academic repositories, cultural heritage digitization, and software distribution, where Defmati enables traceability, tamper-evidence, and reproducible analyses. Interoperability is facilitated through mappings to existing standards and the ability to embed Defmati metadata alongside other schema.

Adoption has grown in libraries, archives, and research facilities, though critics note added complexity and potential performance overhead. Ongoing development focuses on extending the schema for domain-specific needs and improving integration with other metadata ecosystems.