The Format Index (ALPHA)

A index across format registry for analysis and exploration.

This page demonstrates very early-stage prototype systems and is not in any way final. More registries will be added and the database structure is not finalised.

The rest of this site uses the data from the current Format Registry Aggregator system so the results here will be different to those on the rest of the site at this time.

Introduction

This page demonstrates the first iteration of a new version of the Format Registry Aggregator. Design goals includes:

Do a better job of getting people the information they need quickly, while directing them back to the source pages as soon as possible.
Rename it to be an Index rather than an Aggregator as that better reflects the design decision to route users back to the source.
Add NARA and TCDB registry sources.
Include software information from WikiData.
Use the same flexible and powerful SQLite-based approach as the Publications Index.
Adopt a sustainable UI rather than maintaining our own.

The following sections demonstrate some of the capabilities of this new iteration.

Search The Format Index

This basic search just matches your text strings against any of the fields in the database. The table is quite wide!

Faceted Browsing & SQL Queries

Note that more sophisticated analysis is possible using Datasette Lite

Overall Statistics

How many records are there in each registry?

Records Over Time

Note that not all registries explicitly record the date of creation or modification of individual records.