title: NOT WELL-FORMED OR INVALID. NOW WHAT?: Towards a formalized workflow for format validation error treatment
creators: Micky Lindlar
abstract: File format validation – we all use it and we all run into problems when files do not validate. Though a core process within digital preservation practice, little progress has been made in shared documentation and discussion of processes used to treat file format validation errors. This paper aims to close that gap. A basic workflow for handling validation errors is proposed and visualized, and in a second step tested against two TIFF and two PDF validation errors of varying severity. Observations made are fed back into the workflow diagram. The outcome shall provide a first step towards shared digital preservation practice in the currently largely neglected field of method formalization for file format validation error treatment.
keywords: file format validation process formalization error handling