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8.7 Metadata standards - Dublin Core (DC) and The Resource Discovery Framework (RDF) 8.7.1 Interoperability Metadata standards are fundamentally about interoperability, or in other words, they allow users to search your resources alongside resources created by other people, in different institutions, at different times and covering different subject areas. This is still an emerging area in the study of digital resources and their usage and there are no definitive guidelines for structuring all forms of data appropriately. Metadata standards therefore inevitably come in a variety of 'flavours'. However, the fundamental aim of those agencies developing standards for describing digital resources is resource discovery in an environment where the proliferation of data on the Internet and elsewhere is becoming increasingly problematic. 8.7.2 The Dublin Core Metadata Set The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an open forum engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards. The DCMI have devised a 'core' set of 15 metadata elements (or fields) which can be used to create simple descriptions of digital resources. | Element: Title | Definition: A name given to the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Title will be a name by which the resource is formally known. | | Element: Creator | Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource.
Comment: Examples of a Creator include a person, an organisation, or a service. | | Element: Subject | Definition: The topic of the content of the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Subject will be expressed as keywords, key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic of the resource. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme. | | Element: Description | Definition: An account of the content of the resource.
Comment: Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content. | | Element: Publisher | Definition: An entity responsible for making the resource available
Comment: Examples of a Publisher include a person, an organisation, or a service. | | Element: Contributor | Definition: An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the resource.
Comment: Examples of a Contributor include a person, an organisation, or a service. | | Element: Date | Definition: A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the resource.
Comment: Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or availability of the resource. Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is defined in a profile of ISO 8601 and follows the YYYY-MM-DD format. | | Element: Type | Definition: The nature or genre of the content of the resource.
Comment: Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary. | | Element: Format | Definition: The physical or digital manifestation of the resource.
Comment: Typically, Format may include the media-type or dimensions of the resource. Format may be used to determine the software, hardware or other equipment needed to display or operate the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the list of Internet Media Types defining computer media formats). | | Element: Identifier | Definition: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.
Comment: Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system. Example formal identification systems include the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). | | Element: Source | Definition: A reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived.
Comment: The present resource may be derived from the Source resource in whole or in part. Recommended best practice is to reference the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system. | | Element: Language | Definition: A language of the intellectual content of the resource.
Comment: Recommended best practice for the values of the Language element is defined by RFC 1766 [RFC1766] which includes a two-letter Language Code (taken from the ISO 639 standard [ISO639]), followed optionally, by a two-letter Country Code (taken from the ISO 3166 standard [ISO3166]). For example, 'en' for English, 'fr' for French, or 'en-uk' for English used in the United Kingdom | | Element: Relation | Definition: A reference to a related resource.
Comment: Recommended best practice is to reference the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system. | | Element: Coverage | Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource.
Comment: Coverage will typically include spatial location (a place name or geographic co-ordinates), temporal period (a period label, date, or date range). | | Element: Rights | Definition: Information about rights held in and over the resource.
Comment: Typically, a Rights element will contain a rights management statement for the resource, or reference a service providing such information. Rights information often encompasses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Copyright, and various Property Rights. |
The Dublin Core set of metadata elements is intended primarily for resource discovery - or, in other words, is a tool for users to locate your resource and understand basic information about its content and status. The Dublin Core elements were designed to offer a simple, interoperable, framework for data creators who wish to provide information about their resources. The elements can be located by some search engines to contextualise search information and they are used to facilitate interoperable working by different individuals and organizations. You may wish to create a basic Dublin Core record for each of your audio files. Or you may wish to create more complex records, perhaps based on the set of fields recommended by the IASA (above) and 'map' selected fields onto their Dublin Core counterpart. 8.7.3 Using existing data to create your documentation If your project is digitising an existing collection of analogue resources there may be existing documentation which can adapted and extended to incorporate new data relating to the digital object. If you are working in a library or archival environment and catalogue materials using existing standards such as MARC, ISADG or EAD, researchers at the Getty Institute (http://www.getty.edu/research/institute/standards/intrometadata/index.htm), at the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/standards/metadata.htm) or at UKOLN (http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/interoperability/) have devised 'crosswalks' or models for mapping existing cataloguing fields to metadata frameworks. 8.7.4 The Resource Discovery Framework and extending metadata structures Increasingly, data creators are recognising that, although creating interoperable metadata is a vital way to share valuable resources, the documentation needed by an individual project to effectively manage its data may be far more complex and employ very specific language and syntax readily understandable only by a specialised audience The Resource Description Framework (RDF) - developed by the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - provides the foundation for metadata interoperability across different resource description communities. RDF supports a 'packaging' of different types of metadata in a single description by creating a framework for tagging each piece of data. Even though different elements may have been culled from different standards, by tagging each element it is possible to understand the content in the context of the original methodology. An RDF/Dublin Core record for the online version of this Guide to Good Practice might look like this: <?xml:namespace href="http://www.pads.ahds.ac.uk/GGP/ as="RDF"?">
<?xml:namespace href="http://www.pads.ahds.ac.uk/GGP as="DC"?>
<RDF:Description> <DC:Title>Creating Digital Audio Resources</DC:Title>
<DC:Creator>Catherine Owen</DC:Creator>
<DC:Creator>Nick Fells</DC:Creator>
<DC:Creator> Pauline Donachy></DC:Creator>
<DC:Subject>digitisation, copyright, audio, metadata</DC:Subject>
<DC:Description>This Guide describes the methodologies for creating, documenting and managing digital audio projects.</DC:Description>
<DC:Publisher>Performing Arts Data Service<DC:Publisher>
<DC:Identifier>http://www.pads.ahds.ac.uk/GGP</DC:Identifier>
<DC:Format>text/html</DC:Format>
<DC:Type>technical guide</DC:Type>
<DC:Language>en</DC:Language>
<DC:Date>2001-08-30</DC:Date> </RDF:Description> </RDF:RDF>
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