Creator Authenticity Record Research Note

Creator Authenticity Record Research Note

The authenticity record should combine preservation, rights, production, provenance, publication, and correction evidence. It is broader than C2PA and remains useful when credential-aware tools are unavailable.

The NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation version 2.1 organizes practice around storage, fixity and data integrity, information security, metadata, and file formats. The public guide translates those institutional categories into a creator workflow without claiming archival certification.

The IPTC Photo Metadata Standard 2025.1 adds fields for AI prompt information, prompt writer, AI system used, and AI system version used. These fields improve structured description but remain ordinary metadata unless a signed system binds them.

Private preservation and public disclosure should be separate layers. Exact location, device identifiers, source identities, contracts, and sensitive prompts may require restricted access. The public record should reveal only the context needed to prevent a misleading impression.

A minimal asset record needs a stable asset ID, original file, checksum, capture or generation context, rights and consent scope, meaningful edit history, AI assistance, credential record if available, publication export and URL, disclosure, and correction history.

The workflow should be tested by reconstructing one published asset without relying on the creator's memory. Any break in source, edit, consent, publication, or correction evidence becomes an improvement target.