Distributed ledger technologies (DLT), including blockchains, combine the use of cryptography and distributed networks to achieve a novel form of records creation and keeping designed for tamper-resistance and immutability. Over the past several years, these capabilities have made DLTs, including blockchains, increasingly popular as a general-purpose technology used for recordkeeping in a variety of sectors and industry domains, yet many open challenges and issues, both theoretical and applied, remain. This editorial introduces the Special Issue of Computers focusing on exploring the frontiers of blockchain/distributed ledger technology and recordkeeping.Lemieux, V.L. Blockchain and Recordkeeping: Editorial. Computers 2021, 10, 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10110135
Metadatastructured or semi-structured information, which enables the creation, management and use of records through time and within and across domains is an essential component of any records system. Metadata for records captures such information as the business context of the records, dependencies and relationships among records and records systems, the records relationship to legal and social contexts, and relationships to agents who create and manage records . Some records metadata is automatically derived or attributed at the time of records creation, and other metadata will be manually or automatically added to records over time as part of records management and digital preservation processes. The need to update metadata requires that DLT records systems have exibility to add new records metadata. At the same time, records metadata must be protected from unauthorized deletion, alteration and manipulation, and logical relationships or linkages between a records content an
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This is a topic specically addressed in the paper by Stancic and Bralic , in which they suggest that their immutable blockchain core coupled with a partially mutable supporting system addresses the need for both updating and data integrity protection. Metadata for records also must be described and documented in authoritative metadata schemas. The paper by Rehman et al. discusses the challenge of creating, updating and ensuring the authenticity of such schemas. In their solution design for donor funds tracking, they describe a novel process for dening
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4 of 8 Computers 2021, 10, 135 an authoritative donor/NGO list. Updating of the list is only allowed when it is signed by not just two, but a signicant number of NGOs as well as donor agencies. These signatures are included in the description of the table elds and indicate that a certain number of NGOs and donor agencies have put their reputation on the line in case the update is found to be faulty.
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2.7. Discoverability and Accessibility In their paper, Stancic and Bralic discuss the inefciency of discoverability and retrieval of records in DLT systems, especially when block or transaction IDs or dates are unknown. Metadata for records can support improved discoverability and accessibility of records by providing information that may be needed to retrieve and present them, such as identiers, format or storage information . In their paper, Stancic and Bralic compare four relevant records metadata standardsDACS , ISAD(G) , PREMIS and one general digital object description standard, Dublin Core and illustrate their use to aid records discoverability and retrieval in the context of their DLT solution design. 2.8. Balancing Decentralization and Centralization
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