skos:scopeNote
| - Producing a record resource may imply either its newly
creation or a reuse of previous existing information by combination, rearrangement,
selecting, reformatting etc. Records, Record Sets, and Record Parts are all evidence of
the activities of an Agent. More than one Agent may be involved in the creation of a
Record Resource. The role of the Agent in creating the Record Resource may take
different forms, for example, authoring of an individual record, accumulating a set of
records, or forming a set of records. Though a Record, Record Set, and Record Part,
under most circumstances, may be easily distinguished from one another, frequently
identifying the boundary of each and how the “bounded information regions” interrelate,
may present particular challenges. Documentary Forms provide the rules governing many
Records, providing criteria for identifying its boundary, and identifying its essential
Record Parts. Many Records, though, do not have well-established documentary forms,
particularly electronic records, where it may be difficult to determine whether
individual elements represented in separate bitstreams are record parts, records, or
record sets. For example, is a photograph represented independently in a bitstream
embedded in a text document a Record, or a Record Part ? Or is the same photograph
attached to an email, maintaining its independent representation, a Record or a Record
Part? When information is grouped for some purpose, for example, zip or tar “file
compression” for saving storage space, presents a further challenge. One file comprises
multiple bitstreams subjected to techniques that remove bits that can be losslessly
recovered when decompressed. Under what circumstances is such a compressed bitstream a
Record or a Record Set? Determining when an information object is a Record, Record Part,
or Record Set is based on perspective and judgement exercised in a particular context.
In one context, the Agent describing an information object may designate it a Record,
while another Agent in a different context may designate it a Record Part. Both
designations are supported by RiC, and the significance of the difference for users of
the records is ameliorated by the fact that attributes and relations employed in
describing each of the record entities are shared.
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