A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology

RICHARD PEARCE-MOSES

interoperability

Definition   

n. ~ Computing · The ability of different systems to use and exchange information through a shared format.

Notes

Interoperability implies that the information does not need to be transformed during exchange; the different systems can use the data in its native format. Standards facilitate interoperability; for example, a web page marked up in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) can be read on different browsers.

Interoperability is often a relative term. In the example of web pages, different browsers may render the code with subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – differences. A browser on one person's computer may display the text in 10-point Times Roman, another browser on another person's computer may display the text in 12-point Helvetica, and a third browser on another person's computer may read the text out loud.

Citations

†231 (Digital Preservation Testbed 2003, p. 31): Interoperability in the technical sense tackles the problem of digital obsolescence by reducing the dependency of files and records on a particular combination of hardware and software. Interoperability means that a file can be transferred from one platform to another and can then still be reproduced in the same or a similar way. In its simplest implementation two forms are possible: dependency on the application, but not on the operating system; independency of both the operating system and the application.

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