The Semantic Web activity is a W3C project whose goal is to enable a 'cooperative' Web where machines and humans can exchange electronic content that has clear-cut, unambiguous meaning. This vision is based on the automated sharing of metadata terms across Web applications. The declaration of schemas in metadata registries advance this vision by providing a common approach for the discovery, understanding, and exchange of semantics. However, many of the issues regarding registries are not clear, and ideas vary regarding their scope and purpose. Additionally, registry issues are often difficult to describe and comprehend without a working example.
ISBN
1082-9873
Critical Arguements
CA "This article will explore the role of metadata registries and will describe three prototypes, written by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. The article will outline how the prototypes are being used to demonstrate and evaluate application scope, functional requirements, and technology solutions for metadata registries."
Phrases
<P1> Establishing a common approach for the exchange and re-use of data across the Web would be a major step towards achieving the vision of the Semantic Web. <warrant> <P2> The Semantic Web Activity statement articulates this vision as: 'having data on the Web defined and linked in a way that it can be used for more effective discovery, automation, integration, and reuse across various applications. The Web can reach its full potential if it becomes a place where data can be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people.' <P3> In parallel with the growth of content on the Web, there have been increases in the amount and variety of metadata to manipulate this content. An inordinate amount of standards-making activity focuses on metadata schemas (also referred to as vocabularies or data element sets), and yet significant differences in schemas remain. <P4> Different domains typically require differentiation in the complexity and semantics of the schemas they use. Indeed, individual implementations often specify local usage, thereby introducing local terms to metadata schemas specified by standards-making bodies. Such differentiation undermines interoperability between systems. <P5> This situation highlights a growing need for access by users to in-depth information about metadata schemas and particular extensions or variations to schemas. Currently, these 'users' are human  people requesting information. <warrant> <P6> It would be helpful to make available easy access to schemas already in use to provide both humans and software with comprehensive, accurate and authoritative information. <warrant> <P7> The W3C Resource Description Framework (RDF) has provided the basis for a common approach to declaring schemas in use. At present the RDF Schema (RDFS) specification offers the basis for a simple declaration of schema. <P8> Even as it stands, an increasing number of initiatives are using RDFS to 'publish' their schemas. <P9> Registries provide 'added value' to users by indexing schemas relevant to a particular 'domain' or 'community of use' and by simplifying the navigation of terms by enabling multiple schemas to be accessed from one view. <warrant> <P10> Additionally, the establishment of registries to index terms actively being used in local implementations facilitates the metadata standards activity by providing implementation experience transferable to the standards-making process. <warrant> <P11> The overriding goal has been the development of a generic registry tool useful for registry applications in general, not just useful for the DCMI. <P12> The formulation of a 'definitive' set of RDF schemas within the DCMI that can serve as the recommended, comprehensive and accurate expression of the DCMI vocabulary has hindered the development of the DCMI registry. To some extent, this has been due to the changing nature of the RDF Schema specification and its W3C candidate recommendation status. However, it should be recognized that the lack of consensus within the DCMI community regarding the RDF schemas has proven to be equally as impeding. <P13> The automated sharing of metadata across applications is an important part of realizing the goal of the Semantic Web. Users and applications need practical solutions for discovering and sharing semantics. Schema registries provide a viable means of achieving this. <warrant>
Conclusions
RQ "Many of the issues regarding metadata registries are unclear and ideas regarding their scope and purpose vary. Additionally, registry issues are often difficult to describe and comprehend without a working example. The DCMI makes use of rapid prototyping to help solve these problems. Prototyping is a process of quickly developing sample applications that can then be used to demonstrate and evaluate functionality and technology."
SOW
DC "New impetus for the development of registries has come with the development activities surrounding creation of the Semantic Web. The motivation for establishing registries arises from domain and standardization communities, and from the knowledge management community." ... "The original charter for the DCMI Registry Working Group was to establish a metadata registry to support the activity of the DCMI. The aim was to enable the registration, discovery, and navigation of semantics defined by the DCMI, in order to provide an authoritative source of information regarding the DCMI vocabulary. Emphasis was placed on promoting the use of the Dublin Core and supporting the management of change and evolution of the DCMI vocabulary." ... "Discussions within the DCMI Registry Working Group (held primarily on the group's mailing list) have produced draft documents regarding application scope and functionality. These discussions and draft documents have been the basis for the development of registry prototypes and continue to play a central role in the iterative process of prototyping and feedback." ... The overall goal of the DCMI Registry Working Group (WG) is to provide a focus for continued development of the DCMI Metadata Registry. The WG will provide a forum for discussing registry-related activities and facilitating cooperation with the ISO 11179 community, the Semantic Web, and other related initiatives on issues of common interest and relevance.
Type
Electronic Journal
Title
The Dublin Core Metadata Inititiative: Mission, Current Activities, and Future Directions
Metadata is a keystone component for a broad spectrum of applications that are emerging on the Web to help stitch together content and services and make them more visible to users. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) has led the development of structured metadata to support resource discovery. This international community has, over a period of 6 years and 8 workshops, brought forth: A core standard that enhances cross-disciplinary discovery and has been translated into 25 languages to date; A conceptual framework that supports the modular development of auxiliary metadata components; An open consensus building process that has brought to fruition Australian, European and North American standards with promise as a global standard for resource discovery; An open community of hundreds of practitioners and theorists who have found a common ground of principles, procedures, core semantics, and a framework to support interoperable metadata.
This document is a draft version 1.0 of requirements for a metadata framework to be used by the International Press Telecommunications Council for all new and revised IPTC standards. It was worked on and agreed to by members of the IPTC Standards Committee, who represented a variety of newspaper, wire agencies, and other interested members of the IPTC.
Notes
Misha Wolf is also listed as author.
Publisher
International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC)
Critical Arguements
CA "This Requirements document forms part of the programme of work called ITPC Roadmap 2005. The Specification resulting from these Requirements will define the use of metadata by all new IPTC standards and by new major versions of existing IPTC standards." (p. 1) ... "The purpose of the News Metadata Framework (NMDF) WG is to specify how metadata will be expressed, referenced, and managed in all new major versions of IPTC standards. The NMF WG will: Gather, discuss, agree and document functional requirements for the ways in which metadata will be expressed, referenced and managed in all new major versions of IPTC standards; Discuss, agree and document a model, satisfying these requirements; Discuss, agree and document possible approaches to expressing this model in XML, and select those most suited to the tasks. In doing so, the NMDF WG will, where possible, make use of the work of other standards bodies. (p. 2)
Conclusions
RQ "Open issues include: The versioning of schemes, including major and minor versions, and backward compatibility; the versioning of TopicItems; The design of URIs for TopicItem schemes and TopicItem collections, including the issues of: versions (relating to TopicItems, schemes, and collections); representations (relating to TopicItems and collections); The relationship between a [scheme, code] pair, the corresponding URI and the scheme URI." (p. 17)
SOW
DC The development of this framework came out of the 2003 News Standards Summit, which was attended by representatives from over 80 international press and information agencies ... "The News Standards Summit brings together major players--experts on news metadata standards as well as commercial news providers, users, and aggregators. Together, they will analyze the current state and future expectations for news and publishing XML and metadata efforts from both the content and processing model perspectives. The goal is to increase understanding and to drive practical, productive convergence." ... This is a draft version of the standard.
This document is a revision and expansion of "Metadata Made Simpler: A guide for libraries," published by NISO Press in 2001.
Publisher
NISO Press
Critical Arguements
CA An overview of what metadata is and does, aimed at librarians and other information professionals. Describes various metadata schemas. Concludes with a bibliography and glossary.
Type
Web Page
Title
The MPEG-21 Rights Expression Language: A White Paper
CA Presents the business case for a Digital Rights Expression Language, an overview of the DRM landscape, a discussion of the history and role of standards in business, and some technical aspects of MPEG-21. "[U]nless the rights to ... content can be packaged within machine-readable licences, guaranteed to be ubiquitous, unambiguous and secure, which can then be processed consistently and reliably, it is unlikely that content owners will trust consign [sic] their content to networks. The MPEG Rights Expression Language (REL) is designed to provide the functionality required by content owners in order to create reliable, secure licences for content which can be used throughout the value chain, from content creator to content consumer."
Conclusions
RQ "While true interoperability may still be a distant prospect, a common rights expression language, with extensions based on the MPEG REL, can incrementally bring many of the benefits true interoperability will eventually yield. As extensions are created in multiple content verticals, it will be possible to transfer content generated in one securely to another. This will lead to cross channel fertilisation and the growth of multimedia content. At the same time, a common rights language will also lead to the possibility of broader content distribution (by enabling cross-DRM portability), thus providing more channel choice for consumers. It is this vision of the MPEG REL spreading out that is such an exciting prospect. ... The history of MPEG standards would seem to suggest that implementers will start building to the specification in mid-2003, coincidental with the completion of the standard. This will be followed by extensive take-up within two or three years, so that by mid 2006, the MPEG REL will be a pervasive technology, implemented across many different digital rights management and conditional access systems, in both the content industries and in other, non-rights based industries. ... The REL will ultimately become a 'transparent' technology, as invisible to the user as the phone infrastructure is today."
SOW
DC DC The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a working group of ISO/IEC, made up of some 350 members from various industries and universities, in charge of the development of international standards for compression, decompression, processing, and coded representation of moving pictures, audio and their combination. MPEG's official designation is ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11. So far MPEG has produced the following compression formats and ancillary standards: MPEG-1, the standard for storage and retrieval of moving pictures and audio on storage media (approved Nov. 1992); MPEG-2, the standard for digital television (approved Nov. 1994); MPEG-4, the standard for multimedia applications; MPEG-7, the content representation standard for multimedia information search, filtering, management and processing; and MPEG-21, the multimedia framework.
