indecs Content Model

The indecs Content Model is a model of any kind of content or intellectual property throughout its life cycle from conception to the final physical or digital copies. It was developed by the indecs Project.

The sense of abstraction, manifestation and item should be clear, but expression is perhaps a subtler concept. A sound recording is perhaps the most natural example; it is the expression of a musical work during a recording session at a particular place and time, and is distinct from, say, the master tape made, which is a manifestation.

Entity	Definition	Relationship	Examples & Standard Identifiers
Abstraction	A creation which is a concept	Expressed in an expression	A textual abstraction PII: Publisher Item Identifier ISTC: International Standard Textual Work Code A serial (e.g., a magazine) ISSN: International Standard Serial Number A musical composition ISWC: International Standard Musical Work Code An audiovisual abstraction ISAN: International Standard Audiovisual Number
Expression	An event which is a creation (may be a performance)	Fixed in a manifestation Abstracted to an abstraction	An audio or a video recording ISRC: International Standard Recording Code
Manifestation	An artefact (a creation which is a thing) containing an infixion (or encoding) of an expression (is either physical, e.g., a book, or digital, e.g., an MP3 file)	Instantiated in an item Abstracted to an abstraction	A book ISBN: International Standard Book Number A component of a serial (e.g., an issue or an article) SICI: Serial Instance and Contribution Identifier Printed music (e.g., a score) ISMN: International Standard Music Number Any of these may be identified by: EAN-13: European Article Number UPC: Universal Product Code;
Item	A single instance of an artefact		A book in a library A magazine in a doctor's waiting room A score on a flautist's music stand