The QDF file format: an electronic system to describe ancient andean khipus

TL;DR

This paper introduces the QDF, an XML-based file format designed to standardize and facilitate electronic sharing and processing of ancient Andean khipu data for researchers.

Contribution

It proposes a systematic, computer-readable format (QDF) for describing and sharing khipu information, enhancing research collaboration.

Findings

QDF enables standardized electronic documentation of khipus

Facilitates data sharing among researchers

Supports systematic analysis of khipu data

Abstract

With the goal of bringing to reseachers of the ancient andean khipus with a tool to share and process electronically the current corpus of these ancient information devices, I present on this paper a proposal for a Quipu Description Format (QDF), a XML based file format designed to describe such documents in a systematic and computer standard way.