<s>
A	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
document	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
document	O
whose	O
content	O
can	O
be	O
readily	O
processed	O
by	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
documents	O
are	O
distinguished	O
from	O
more	O
general	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
by	O
virtue	O
of	O
having	O
further	O
structure	O
to	O
provide	O
the	O
necessary	O
context	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
business	O
processes	O
for	O
which	O
they	O
are	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
vast	O
bulk	O
of	O
information	O
is	O
unstructured	B-Application
data	I-Application
and	O
,	O
from	O
a	O
business	O
perspective	O
,	O
that	O
means	O
it	O
is	O
"	O
immature	O
"	O
,	O
i.e.	O
,	O
Level	O
1	O
(	O
chaotic	O
)	O
of	O
the	O
Capability	O
Maturity	O
Model	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unstructured	B-Application
information	I-Application
is	O
also	O
ill-suited	O
for	O
records	O
management	O
functions	O
,	O
provides	O
inadequate	O
evidence	O
for	O
legal	O
purposes	O
,	O
drives	O
up	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
discovery	O
in	O
litigation	O
,	O
and	O
makes	O
access	O
and	O
usage	O
needlessly	O
cumbersome	O
in	O
routine	O
,	O
ongoing	O
business	O
processes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Document-oriented	B-General_Concept
databases	I-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
developed	O
for	O
storing	O
,	O
retrieving	O
,	O
and	O
managing	O
document-oriented	O
information	O
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
semi-structured	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extensible	B-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
XML	B-Protocol
)	O
is	O
a	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
Consortium	O
(	O
W3C	O
)	O
Recommendation	O
setting	O
forth	O
rules	O
for	O
encoding	O
documents	O
in	O
a	O
format	O
that	O
is	O
both	O
human-readable	B-General_Concept
and	O
machine-readable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
XML	B-Protocol
editor	I-Protocol
tools	O
have	O
been	O
developed	O
and	O
most	O
,	O
if	O
not	O
all	O
major	O
information	O
technology	O
applications	O
support	O
XML	B-Protocol
to	O
greater	O
or	O
lesser	O
degrees	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fact	O
that	O
XML	B-Protocol
itself	O
is	O
an	O
open	O
,	O
standard	O
,	O
machine-readable	O
format	O
makes	O
it	O
relatively	O
easy	O
for	O
application	O
developers	O
to	O
do	O
so	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
W3C	O
's	O
accompanying	O
XML	B-Protocol
Schema	O
(	O
XSD	O
)	O
Recommendation	O
specifies	O
how	O
to	O
formally	O
describe	O
the	O
elements	O
in	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
document	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
respect	O
to	O
the	O
specification	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
schemas	O
,	O
the	O
Organization	O
for	O
the	O
Advancement	O
of	O
Structured	O
Information	O
Standards	O
(	O
OASIS	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
leading	O
standards-developing	O
organization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
many	O
technical	O
developers	O
prefer	O
to	O
work	O
with	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
to	O
define	O
the	O
structure	O
of	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
data	O
for	O
validation	O
,	O
documentation	O
,	O
and	O
interaction	O
control	O
,	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
Schema	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
Internet	O
Engineering	O
Task	O
Force	O
(	O
IETF	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Portable	B-Application
Document	I-Application
Format	I-Application
(	O
PDF	B-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
file	O
format	O
used	O
to	O
present	O
documents	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
independent	O
of	O
application	O
software	O
,	O
hardware	O
,	O
and	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
PDF	B-Application
file	I-Application
encapsulates	O
a	O
complete	O
description	O
of	O
the	O
presentation	O
of	O
the	O
document	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
text	O
,	O
fonts	O
,	O
graphics	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
information	O
needed	O
to	O
display	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PDF/A	B-General_Concept
is	O
an	O
ISO-standardized	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
PDF	B-Application
specialized	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
the	O
archiving	O
and	O
long-term	O
preservation	O
of	O
electronic	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PDF/A	B-General_Concept
-3	O
allows	O
embedding	O
of	O
other	O
file	O
formats	O
,	O
including	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
into	O
PDF/A	B-General_Concept
conforming	O
documents	O
,	O
thus	O
potentially	O
providing	O
the	O
best	O
of	O
both	O
human	O
-	O
and	O
machine-readability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Moreover	O
,	O
such	O
records	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
automate	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
auditing	O
data	O
maintained	O
in	O
databases	O
,	O
thereby	O
reducing	O
the	O
risk	O
of	O
single	O
points	O
of	O
failure	O
associated	O
with	O
the	O
Machiavellian	O
concept	O
of	O
a	O
single	B-Application
source	I-Application
of	I-Application
truth	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blockchain	B-Application
(	O
database	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
new	O
technology	O
for	O
maintaining	O
continuously-growing	O
lists	O
of	O
records	O
secured	O
from	O
tampering	O
and	O
revision	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
key	O
feature	O
is	O
that	O
every	O
node	O
in	O
a	O
decentralized	O
system	O
has	O
a	O
copy	O
of	O
the	O
blockchain	B-Application
so	O
there	O
is	O
no	B-Architecture
single	I-Architecture
point	I-Architecture
of	I-Architecture
failure	I-Architecture
subject	O
to	O
manipulation	O
and	O
fraud	O
.	O
</s>
