An introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI Gateway Group seminar, Blenheim Palace, Thursday 28 February 2002 Pete Johnston UKOLN, University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY UKOLN is supported by: URL

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb An introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI Resource discovery on the Web The mission and activity of the DCMI The DC Metadata Element Set Some current activity DC in government

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb Resource discovery on the Web Resource providers have moved into a shared network space Recognition that users wish –to refer to intellectual and cultural materials flexibly and transparently without concern for institutional or national boundaries (Dempsey, 2000) Convergence: services for resource disclosure, discovery and delivery which span boundaries –smashing the silos (Cathro, 2001)

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb And closer to home…. When people interact with government they want to do so on their own terms. They want high quality services which are accessible, convenient and secure. People should not need to understand how government is organised, or to know which department or agency does what, or whether a function is exercised by central or local government. – Cabinet Office, e-government: A strategic framework, 2000

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The mission of the DCMI To make it easier to find resources using the Internet through the following activities: –Developing metadata standards for discovery across domains, –Defining frameworks for the interoperation of metadata sets, –Facilitating the development of community- or discipline-specific metadata sets that are consistent with the above items

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The activities of the DCMI Standards development and maintenance –maintaining existing recommendations –participation in formal standards activities –overseeing evolution of vocabularies –technical working groups Educational outreach & user support –DCMI Web site –workshop series, other events –tutorial materials, user guides Liaison –other metadata communities Tools, services & infrastructure –liaison with developers –access to schemas, metadata schemas registry

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb DCMI organisation Directorate –Executive Director (Stuart Weibel, OCLC), Managing Director (Makx Dekkers) Board of Trustees –cross-domain expert group –assist strategic planning –develop community support Usage Board –appointed by Directorate –ensure orderly evolution of DC vocabularies –editorial committee, evaluate proposals from WGs

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb DCMI organisation Advisory Board –chairs of WGs and invited experts –forum for technical/strategic co-ordination –liaison with other communities Working Groups, Special Interest Groups –organised around problem/task areas –formed/dissolved as dictated by work at hand –open to participation –consensual approach Seeking to –maintain open, consensus-based model –establish maintenance processes that earn confidence of stakeholders

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb A (very) brief history 1994: 2nd WWW conference, Chicago informal discussions 1995: NCSA/OCLC Metadata wshop, Dublin, Ohio The Dublin Core 13-element set of metadata semantics for Web resources 1996: DC-2 Warwick workshop Warwick Framework: metadata is modular 1996: DC-3 Dublin, Ohio workshop expand 13 elements to 15 (less text-centric?) 1997-: RDF: formal expression of W.F. 2000: DCMI recommends qualifiers

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set Interdisciplinary consensus on simple element set for resource discovery –15 elements –all optional –all repeatable Not intended for complex resource description –initial idea of simple document-like object –simplicity of semantics, ease of use Provides basic semantic interoperability –across domains, across language communities –does not provide detailed cataloguing rules A set of 15 broad buckets…

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set Title Subject Description Creator Publisher Contributor Date Type Format Identifier Source Language Relation Coverage Rights

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set Standardisation –Europe: recognition by CEN/ISSS Workshop Agreement (2000) –US: ratification by NISO Z39.85 (2001) –to be submitted to ISO in 2002? Not a replacement for richer descriptive standards Can provide 15 windows into richer resource descriptions –disclose rich description in simple form –semantic cross-walks, mappings to existing data –export rather than create

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set If metadata is language... … then DC is a pidgin language for use by tourists on the Internet commons (Baker) Different resource description communities speak different languages –but tourists learn to pidginise Small vocabulary, simple grammar/structure –Resource has Title An Introduction to Dublin Core and the DCMI –Resource has Subject Metadata Not as subtle/powerful as separate languages - but useful!

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb Extending the Dublin Core Does allow for extensibility –but tension between extending DC and choosing other, richer schema –greater specificity = lesser interoperability? Improve semantic precision of DC elements using qualifiers –element refinements –make the meaning of an element narrower –value encoding schemes –specify that value is from controlled vocabulary, or formatted in a standard way The dumb-down principle Dublin Core Qualifiers recommendation 2000

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb The Dublin Core in context In practice, metadata implementers –combine elements from different sources (e.g. DC plus elements from other schemas, local elements) –refine definitions of elements –constrain use of elements Application profiles –if simple DC is a pidgin, an application profile is a regional idiom or creole! (Baker) –element set plus policies, guidelines –some DCMI WGs developing application profiles for specific domains

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb DCMI Registry All Domains DC Metadata Element Set GovernmentLibrariesetc. DC-GovDC–LibDC– … AGLSeGMS…. S.E.P. !!! DC and interoperability

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb Some current DCMI activity Application profiles –educational, government, library communities Guidelines for expressing DC in XML Describing agents Recording bibliographic citation DCMI schemas registry Continued liaison with e.g. OAI, W3C…. etc –See Dekkers/Weibel 2002

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb DC in government DC-gov application profile DC recommended as basis for resource discovery of govt information in –Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, UK Also supra-national agencies –UN Food & Agriculture Organisation; World Health Organisation…. European Commission Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) programme –Work item: Managing Information Resources for e- Government (MIREG) to co-ordinate promotion of DC-based framework in public sector in Europe

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb DC in government UK e-government Metadata Framework –endorsement of simple DC –recognition of need for additional elements for e.g. records management –recognition of need for thesaurus/controlled vocabulary UK e-government Metadata Standard –application profile –DC (with refinements and encoding schemes) –new elements (audience, location, preservation, disposal) –draft version 0.2 now available for comment –

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb Summary DC provides simple element set for cross-domain resource discovery Supported by open community of practitioners and theorists Widely adopted - but not a complete, off-the-shelf solution Growing interest in government sector Central part of UK e-government Metadata Framework

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb References/Further reading Dublin Core Metadata Initiative: Dempsey, Lorcan. Scientific, Industrial, and Cultural Heritage: a shared approach Cathro, Warwick. Smashing the silos: towards convergence…. Baker, Tom. A Grammar of Dublin Core Heery, Rachel & Manjula Patel. Application Profiles Dekkers, Makx & Stuart Weibel. DCMI Progress Report & Workplan for

Introduction to the Dublin Core and the DCMI, Gateway Group seminar, 28 Feb Acknowledgements UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.