Bureau Editorial and Style Manual

1. Purpose and Authority

This manual establishes the editorial and publication standards of the Bureau of Digital Antiquities.

It applies to public records, reports, bulletins, technical notes, catalogue documentation and other institutional material prepared for release by the Bureau.

The purpose of these standards is to ensure that Bureau publications remain consistent, identifiable and intelligible as the documentary record develops over time. Particular attention is given to terminology, document identification, revision control, historical network references, attribution and the distinction between documented evidence and institutional assessment.

The Publications Office maintains this manual on behalf of the Bureau.

Editorial conformity does not transfer responsibility for technical, historical or preservation findings from the office responsible for the underlying work. Issuing offices remain responsible for the substantive content of their publications.

2. Scope

The standards in this manual apply to material intended for public release through Bureau publication services.

This includes:

• Annual Reports;
• Field Reports;
• Preservation Bulletins;
• Technical Notes;
• Publications Manuals;
• Bureau Notices where applicable;
• supporting documentation associated with the Forgotten Web Exchange; and
• other formal institutional publications approved for public release.

Internal working notes, preliminary examination records and unpublished research material may use abbreviated forms where necessary, but material prepared for public release should be brought into conformity with this manual before publication.

3. Bureau Terminology

Defined Bureau terms should be used consistently throughout institutional records.

The term Digital Object refers to a digital resource, system, publication, service or other digital entity documented by the Bureau as an identifiable object of historical or preservation interest.

The term Digital Object Record refers to the documentary record maintained by the Bureau concerning such an object.

The Forgotten Web Exchange, abbreviated FWX, is the Bureau catalogue through which public Digital Object Records are made available.

Terms representing formal Bureau classifications or defined record concepts should retain their established capitalization where their specific institutional meaning is intended.

Examples include:

• Digital Object;
• Digital Object Record;
• Operational Status;
• Preservation Status;
• Field Report;
• Preservation Bulletin;
• Technical Note;
• Publications Manual; and
• Bureau Notice.

Ordinary descriptive uses of the same words need not be capitalized where no formal Bureau meaning is intended.

Terminology should distinguish clearly between observation, inference and confirmed documentary evidence.

Uncertainty should not be concealed for the sake of editorial simplicity.

4. Document Identification

Every formal Bureau publication shall receive a unique publication identifier.

Identifiers consist of a publication-series prefix followed by a six-digit sequential number.

Examples include:

• AR-000001 — Annual Report;
• FR-000001 — Field Report;
• PB-000001 — Preservation Bulletin;
• TN-000001 — Technical Note; and
• PM-000001 — Publications Manual.

Publication identifiers remain permanently associated with the document to which they were assigned and should not be reused.

Formal publications shall additionally carry a document reference identifying the Bureau, publication series, year of publication and sequence within that year.

For example:

BDA-PM-2026-001

The publication identifier is the principal catalogue identifier for the document. The document reference provides administrative document-control information and should not be treated as a replacement for the publication identifier.

Digital Objects use the separate FWX- identifier series maintained by the Forgotten Web Exchange.

5. Titles, Headings and Structure

Publication titles should identify the subject of the document directly.

Titles should not imply a degree of certainty, authority or completeness that is not supported by the underlying record.

Longer publications should be divided into numbered sections where this improves navigation and citation. Short bulletins and notices may use unnumbered headings where their structure remains clear without numbering.

Headings should describe the function of the section rather than merely repeat the title of the publication.

Editorial structure should support later reference to individual findings, procedures and determinations without requiring the publication to be read as an indivisible narrative.

6. Dates, Revisions and Document Status

Every publication shall record its date of publication.

Dates used for document control should be represented unambiguously. Where a machine-readable date is required, the Bureau uses the form:

YYYY-MM-DD

A publication shall also record its revision and document status.

Initial public release ordinarily carries revision 1.0.

Substantive amendments should result in a new revision. Minor typographical or presentation corrections may be recorded according to the significance of the change and the need to preserve an intelligible documentary history.

The recognised public document statuses are:

• Current — the document represents current Bureau guidance, findings or institutional information;
• Superseded — a later publication or revision has replaced the document for current use;
• Archived — the document is retained principally as part of the institutional record; and
• Withdrawn — the Bureau has formally withdrawn the document from current use.

Superseded, archived or withdrawn publications should remain identifiable where retention is appropriate to the documentary record.

A change of status must not be represented as though the earlier publication had never existed.

7. References to Digital Objects

A formal reference to a Digital Object should use its FWX identifier wherever one has been assigned.

On first significant reference, the identifier should ordinarily be accompanied by the catalogue title.

For example:

FWX-000002 — Space Jam Website

Subsequent references may use the identifier alone where the subject remains unambiguous.

An FWX identifier identifies the Bureau record. It does not imply ownership, operation or endorsement of the Digital Object by the Bureau.

Where a publication discusses an object not yet represented by a public FWX record, the text should not invent or reserve an identifier solely for editorial convenience.

8. Sources, Evidence and Attribution

Bureau publications should distinguish between information established from documentary evidence and conclusions reached through Bureau examination.

Relevant sources may include:

• surviving network resources;
• archival captures;
• contemporary publications;
• technical documentation;
• historical network records;
• retained digital files and metadata;
• earlier Bureau records; and
• other material appropriate to the examination.

Where source material is reproduced or described, attribution should be provided where practicable.

The existence of multiple sources does not require the Bureau to present them as equally reliable.

Where sources conflict and the conflict cannot be resolved with reasonable confidence, the uncertainty should remain visible in the publication or supporting record.

Editorial revision must not convert an inference into a documented fact.

9. Historical and Current Network Addresses

Network addresses form part of the documentary history of many Digital Objects.

Publications should distinguish, where necessary, between:

• a historically recorded address;
• a currently accessible address;
• an archival or reconstructed access point; and
• an unrelated resource presently occupying a former address.

A network location should not be described as current solely because the domain or server responds.

Where an historical address redirects, the destination should be examined before continuity is assumed.

The continued operation of a network location does not by itself establish the continued existence of the Digital Object formerly associated with that location.

Likewise, loss of the original network address does not remove the Digital Object from the historical record.

10. Images, Screenshots and Archival Captures

Images used in Bureau publications should have a defined documentary or illustrative purpose.

Screenshots of external Digital Objects should identify their source where practicable and should not be presented in a manner that implies Bureau ownership of the underlying material.

A screenshot records an observed presentation of a Digital Object at a particular point in time. It should not be treated as evidence that every element of the object was operational or unchanged at the time of capture.

Archival captures and reconstructions should be identified as such.

A reproduction, screenshot, archival capture or reconstruction must not be described as the original Digital Object merely because it provides visual or functional access to historical material.

Images should be prepared in formats and dimensions suitable for the Bureau’s publication systems while preserving sufficient detail for their intended documentary purpose.

11. Institutional Authorship and Responsibility

Publications should identify the issuing office responsible for the document.

Individual authors may additionally be identified where authorship is relevant to the nature of the work.

The issuing office represents institutional responsibility for the publication and should correspond to the Bureau unit responsible for the underlying subject matter.

The Publications Office establishes editorial standards and coordinates publication practice across the Bureau. This function does not require the Publications Office to be designated as the issuing office of every Bureau publication.

A Preservation Bulletin prepared under the authority of the Office of Digital Preservation, for example, should continue to identify that office as its issuing office.

12. Editorial Review and Public Release

Material intended for formal publication should pass through an editorial review process appropriate to its significance.

The standard publication sequence is:

1. draft preparation;
2. schema and document-control validation;
3. editorial review;
4. preview;
5. approval;
6. public release; and
7. post-publication verification.

Editorial review should confirm, as applicable:

• correct publication and document identifiers;
• conformity with Bureau terminology;
• valid relationships to Digital Objects and other publications;
• appropriate classification and document status;
• clear distinction between evidence and assessment;
• source attribution;
• consistency of dates and names; and
• suitability of images and supporting material.

Technical validation does not replace editorial review.

Likewise, editorial approval does not replace specialist review of technical, historical, archival or preservation findings.

13. Relationships Between Publications

Where one publication materially depends upon, supplements or applies another, the relationship should be recorded where the Bureau publication system supports such references.

Related-publication references should be used to assist interpretation rather than merely to increase the number of connections between documents.

A later publication should identify a preceding document where understanding the earlier work is materially useful.

Where a publication formally replaces earlier guidance, the earlier document should be marked Superseded rather than silently removed.

The documentary history of Bureau policy and methodology is itself part of the institutional record.

14. Maintenance of this Manual

This manual is maintained by the Publications Office.

Revisions may be issued where changes to Bureau terminology, publication systems, document-control procedures or editorial practice require amendment of the standard.

Minor editorial corrections should not alter the substantive meaning of the manual.

Substantive changes should be reflected in the revision number and, where appropriate, documented through associated Bureau records.

Questions of interpretation should be referred to the Director of Publications.

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Prepared by Robert C. Lieu
Director of Publications
Publications Office
Bureau of Digital Antiquities
1 October 2026