Records in Contexts — Resource List

OpenRiC

• • The Archive and Heritage Group (https://theahg.co.za)
  • Plain Sailing Information Systems (https://plainsailingisystems.co.za)
• 2026-03

• OpenRiC is an open, free specification for publishing and exchanging archival description as Records in Contexts over plain HTTP, a shared contract (like IIIF is for images) that any archival system can implement, not a single product.

  The site has two front doors:

  - For archivists & researchers: explore the RiC model visually (the RiC-CM navigator), browse real archival data in a graph viewer, and learn by doing in the modelling wizard. No technical knowledge needed.

  - For developers & implementers: the four-document specification, JSON Schemas, SHACL shapes, an OpenAPI contract, a conformance probe, and a live reference API (with viewer and capture clients).

  Underneath: one versioned spec, a conformant reference API (ric.theahg.co.za), browser clients (viewer, capture), and the wizard — all CC-BY (spec) / AGPL (implementations), so institutions aren't locked into any one vendor's reading of the standard.

• https://openric.org/
• https://openric.org/wizard/
• https://ric.theahg.co.za/
• https://heratio.theahg.co.za/
• Available in: English
• RiC-CM 1.0 RiC-O 1.0

• Proof of concept

• Contact: johan (at) theahg.co.za