Eltrovo is a proof-of-concept for a new approach to digital collections. While traditional archival description is based on hierarchy, the true nature of records is more sophisticated. Eltrovo analyzes sets of files and discovers the relationships between them using fuzzy matching algorithms. The result is an RDF graph that can inform the archivist not only of duplicate files but also files that appear to be related to each other such as drafts of the same document, or files that include other files within them. This information can assist the archivist in describing a digital collection and making decisions about materials that may be deaccessioned.
I presented on the subject of Eltrovo at the BitCurator Forum in March, 2024.
This software is being developed as part of an independent study at the Pratt Institute, where I am completing a master's degree in library and information science with a concentration in archives. It is experimental and at this stage intended only to work out some of the problems inherent in this kind of analysis and demonstrate how potential workflows might look.