Digital provenance

This article introduces, defines and analyzes the concept of digital provenance. I begin by comparing provenance, data provenance and digital provenance, focusing on research literature in archival studies, digital preservation and media archeology. The remainder of the article is divided into two parts, first examining three dimensions of digital provenance and then considering how digital provenance might be of use in the four main archival functions. An understanding of digital provenance is necessary for archivists to process born digital records; but more than this, it is necessary for archivists and archival users to understand the context and content of born digital records.