Learn and model
Records in Contexts is a model, not a format. The hard part is rarely the syntax - it is deciding whether the thing in front of you is a record or a record set, an activity or a function, an agent or a corporate body.
Describe what you actually have and the wizard works through the decisions with you, saying why each entity fits or does not, and building the model as it goes. Twenty-one worked scenarios, including an unknown creator, a chain of custody and a closed record.
Open the wizard →Every RiC-CM entity, attribute and relation, navigable. The reference when you know roughly what you are looking for and need the precise definition.
Open the model navigator ↗What changed from ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), ISDF and ISDIAH, why the four became one connected model, and what that means for description you already hold.
Start reading →Where people get stuck
These are the distinctions that cost the most time. Each is a real decision, not a naming preference.
| The question | The short answer |
|---|---|
| Record or Record Set? | A Record Set groups; a Record is the thing described. A file of correspondence is a set whose members are records. |
| Record or Record Part? | A part has no independent existence - a single letter within a bound volume is a part, not a record in its own right. |
| Activity or Function? | A Function is ongoing responsibility; an Activity is something that happened. “Licensing” is a function, “issued licence 4021” is an activity. |
| Agent or Corporate Body? | Agent is the umbrella. Person, Family and Corporate Body are its kinds - describe the kind you actually have. |
| Record or Instantiation? | The Record is the intellectual thing; the Instantiation is a physical or digital manifestation of it. One record, many instantiations. |
The model navigator carries the formal definitions, and the mapping specification says how each maps from the legacy ICA standards.
The standards underneath
OpenRiC targets a specific version of each RiC document, and the RiC baseline page names all four in one place. In short: RiC-O 1.1 is the normative target, and RiC-AG 0.1 is the upstream authority for the crosswalks from the legacy standards.
Once you have modelled something
Publishing it is Build. Seeing what modelled data looks like in practice is Explore.