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***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/