Description (en)
Given the growing need for cross-repository integration
to enable a trusted, scalable, open and distributed
content infrastructure, this paper introduces the Policy-
Driven Repository Interoperability (PoDRI) project
investigating interoperability mechanisms between
repositories at the policy level. Simply moving digital
content from one repository to another may not capture
the essential management policies needed to ensure its
integrity and authenticity. Platform-independent, policyaware
object models, including policy expressions, and
a distributed architecture for policy-driven management
are fundamental building blocks of a sustainable access
and preservation infrastructure. This project integrates
iRODS and Fedora to demonstrate such an
infrastructure. Using iRODS and its rules engine,
combined with Fedora’s rich semantic object model for
digital objects, provides the basis for implementing a
policy-driven test-bed. Using a policy-driven
architecture is an essential part of realizing a fully
model-driven repository infrastructure capable of
decoupling the permanent digital content from the
constantly evolving information technology used to
support them.