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![[Annotate]](/organics/icons/sannotate.gif)
![[Shownotes]](../gif/annotate/sshow-251.gif)
The Document Vault
was intended to provide the basis for the
flexible creation and use of on-line, multi-media documents. In
particular, a mechanism for the inclusion of arbitrary types of
information into a document is needed to support standard archiving and
distribution practices on the Internet. The basic Vault features
include:
- A definition of Vault objects composed of standard file types (images, sounds, text, LaTeX, data, multi-part, etc.) and appropriate headers.
- A definition of documents as one or more objects assembled into a particular structure.
- A definition of methods appropriate to each object necessary to manifest a document into
- Whatever target context is required (PostScript, HTML, ASCII, DVI, etc.).
![[Shownotes]](../gif/annotate/sshow-252.gif)
Consequently, a document can be authored by including text, images,
sounds, data, network pointers to the same or other forms of
information and then served in any form required, for either local or
network consumption. There is only one authorized document and so
maintenance is limited to a minimum.
Originally, the Vault project was initiated to alleviate problems
related to the maintenance and development of electronic archives.
Anonymous FTP, Gopher and World Wide Web (WWW) archives are distinct in
how the contents of each type of archive are typically organized. This
is largely due to the nature of the underlying protocols. Moreover, the
type of information varies: raw or compressed data files are the norm
for FTP, ASCII text is the most useful for Gopher and HTML-structured
multi-media is appropriate for the Web. Worse, the concept of a
document is not clearly defined since a mix of images, sounds, text
(ASCII and formatted) and data may be required. For a site offering
services in each, problems of document authority, duplication and
redundant maintenance chores are difficult to cope with. (Java and its like may well help here.)
The form in which a document appears in the Proceedings has been
determined by archival demands, providing automated access to the
various formats of the available documents through a single adaptable
interface. Its potential as an aid to authoring was not explored as
our focus was on the activation of the mathematical content.
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