***Apologies for cross-posting***

JSTOR and the Harvard University Library announce the availability of the
beta release of JHOVE, an open source, extensible Java-based framework for
the format-specific identification, validation, and characterization of
digital objects <http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/>.

Identification answers the question, "I have a digital object, what format
is it?"; validation, "I have an object purportedly of format F, is it?";
and characterization, "I have an object of format F, what are its salient
properties?"  Object characteristics (technical metadata) can be displayed
in a simple plain text format or as XML, using public schemas where
appropriate, i.e., the MIX schema for raster still image metadata.

JHOVE uses an extensible plug-in architecture, with modules available for
the following formats and profiles:

GIF     - 87a, 89a
JPEG    - ISO 10918, JFIF, Exif, SPIFF, JTIP, JPEG-LS
PDF     - 1.0-1.4, Tagged, Linearized, PDF/X, PDF/A
TIFF    - 4.0-6.0, TIFF/IT, TIFF/EP, Exif, GeoTIFF, TIFF-FX, Class B, F, G,
P, R, Y
UTF-8
XML

JHOVE is distributed as a set of jar files, for embedding JHOVE
functionality into existing infrastructure, with additional driver classes
for pre-built stand-alone applications, with command line and Swing-based
GUI interfaces.  The JHOVE distribution is 100% Java and is self-contained,
requiring only a J2SE 1.4 JRE.  It has been tested under Solaris and
Windows 2000/XP operating systems.

JHOVE is available under the terms of the GNU GPL license
<http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/distribution.html>.

The development of JHOVE was funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

<http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/>


---
Stephen L. Abrams
Digital Library Program Manager
Harvard University Library, Office for Information Systems
1280 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 404
Cambridge, MA 02138
T (617) 495-3724
F (617) 495-0491
E [log in to unmask]
W http://hul.harvard.edu/~stephen/