1. Multimedia content and its documentary unit

1.1 Concept of a document

The concept of a document is a tricky one: though familiar to everyone, it defies definition. Rather than attempting to arrive at a precise and exhaustive definition, let us adopt a characterization that captures the essential features of documents—those that we want document management processes to take into account and preserve.

A document can be defined as content recorded on a physical medium.

Let’s analyze this characterization. Content is a material object that possesses cultural value. It is material because it corresponds to the inscription of a perceptible form (visual, auditory) onto a material object (paper, magnetic tape, optical media, etc.). It is cultural because the perceptible form is interpreted...