Various metadata schemas for specific communities

Commonly used schemas in education

Standards and specifications

• DCMES (Dublin Core Metadata Element Set) (ISO 5836)
An international standard for cross-domain information resource description. An overview and links to full specifications of all metadata terms maintained by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is available at http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/overview/.

• DCMI Abstract Model
The primary purpose of this document is to provide a reference model against which particular DC encoding guidelines can be compared. To function well, a reference model needs to be independent of any particular encoding syntax. Such a reference model allows us to gain a better understanding of the kinds of descriptions that we are trying to encode and facilitates the development of better mappings and translations between different syntaxes.
• LOM (Learning Object Metadata) (IEEE 1484.12.1)
An international standard for describing learning objects, i.e. any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology supported learning.
• IMS Learning Resource Meta-data
The IMS Global Learning Consortium develops and promotes learning technology specifications. The IMS Learning Resource Meta-data specification is being aligned with the LOM standard. The schema (Information Model) and XML Binding have now been superseded by the LOM standard.
• SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)
SCORM is not a schema but a collection of standards and specifications to promote interoperability of web-based learning content and learning management systems. It is maintained by the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative and is in use globally. SCORM uses the LOM standard as its metadata schema.
• AGLS (Australian Government Locator Service) Metadata Standard (AS 5044)
The AGLS Metadata Standard is a set of 19 metadata elements which Australian government departments and agencies can use to improve the visibility and accessibility of their services and information over the Internet. It is based on the DCMES.
• NZGLS (New Zealand Government Locator Service) Metadata Standard
The NZGLS metadata standard is the official New Zealand Government standard for creating discovery-level metadata. The standard is based closely on two well established standards: the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set and the Australian Government Locator Service. It defines nineteen metadata elements for resource description in a cross-disciplinary information environment.

Application profiles

Australia/New Zealand

• EdNA Metadata Standard
Applies to all sectors of education and training in Australia. The EdNA Metadata Standard is based on the DCMES. It is maintained by the EdNA Metadata Standard Working Group which reports to the AICTEC Standards Sub-Committee and the education.au limited Board. The current version (1.1) was ratified in December 2000. The principal application of the standard at present is to facilitate the aggregation of metadata about educational resources for EdNA Online.
• The Le@rning Federation (TLF) Metadata Application Profile
School sector (P-10), Australia and New Zealand. The TLF Metadata Application Profile supports the management of TLF content, i.e. online curriculum materials for Australian and New Zealand schools. It references elements from DCMES, LOM and EdNA schemas.
• New Zealand Education Sector Metadata Schema
The New Zealand Education Sector Architectural Framework (ESAF) [http://wiki.tertiary.govt.nz/ESAF/ArchitecturalFramework] includes a project to develop and adopt an education sector extension to the NZGLS metadata standard. This will be published as an XML schema, enabling sector organisations to extend the standard even further for their own purposes resulting in a four-tier structure (i.e. Dublin Core → NZGLS → Sector Metadata → Local Metadata).
• Vetadata (VET Metadata Application Profile)
Australian vocational and technical education. Vetadata is based on LOM and includes the mandatory elements required for SCORM compliance. Version 1.0 was approved by the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG) in May 2005.
• MEMS (Ministry of Education Metadata Schema)
The New Zealand Ministry of Education, has released a metadata application profile for describing resources, services and documents which relate to the education sector.
• Matapihi Application Profile
Matapihi is one of the New Zealand Library collections which contains around 50,000 objects, sounds and pictures of people, events and places in Aotearoa New Zealand. An application profile has been developed for this collection which is used by students and teachers.
• DC-Eprints application profile
The wiki is being used to support the activities of a UK (JISC) working group that is developing a Dublin Core Application Profile for describing scholarly publications (eprints) held in institutional repositories. This is still a 'work in progress'.

International

• CanCore
CanCore is a set of best practice recommendations on the use of the LOM standard. It can also be considered an application profile that focuses not on technical matters but on those of semantics and interpretation of LOM.
• DC-Education
The DCMI Education Working Group http://dublincore.org/groups/education/ is developing an application profile clarifying the use of the DCMES in educational contexts.
• Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
The Gateway to Educational Materials is a US-based consortium effort to provide educators with access to educational resources on the web. The GEM metadata schema is based on DCMES and is used by organisations contributing metadata records to GEM.
• UK-LOM
UK-LOM is an application profile of LOM for use in the UK educational context. It specifies a minimum core element set, implementation guidelines and additional UK vocabularies.

Other communities

Multimedia

• IMDI (ISLE Meta Data Initiative)
The ISLE Meta Data Initiative (IMDI) is a proposed metadata standard to describe multi-media and multi-modal language resources. The standard provides interoperability for browsable and searchable corpus structures and resource descriptions with help of specific tools.
• MPEG-7 (Moving Picture Experts Group)
MPEG-7 is an ISO/IEC standard developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). MPEG-7, formally named "Multimedia Content Description Interface", is a standard for describing the multimedia content data that supports some degree of interpretation of the information meaning, which can be passed onto, or accessed by, a device or a computer code. MPEG-7 is not aimed at any one application in particular; rather, the elements that MPEG-7 standardizes support as broad a range of applications as possible.
• MPEG-21
MPEG-21 is a Multimedia Framework and is based on two essential concepts: the definition of a fundamental unit of distribution and transaction (the Digital Item) and the concept of Users interacting with Digital Items. The Digital Items can be considered the “what” of the Multimedia Framework (e.g., a video collection, a music album) and the Users can be considered the “who” of the Multimedia Framework. At its most basic level, MPEG-21 provides a framework in which one User interacts with another User and the object of that interaction is a Digital Item commonly called content. Some such interactions are creating content, providing content, archiving content, rating content, enhancing and delivering content, aggregating content, delivering content, syndicating content, retail selling of content, consuming content, subscribing to content, regulating content, facilitating transactions that occur from any of the above, and regulating transactions that occur from any of the above.
• VRA (Visual Resources Association) Core
The VRA Core Categories, Version 3.0 consist of a single element set that can be applied as many times as necessary to create records to describe works of visual culture as well as the images that document them. The elements that comprise the Core are designed to facilitate the sharing of information among visual resources collections about works and images. These elements may not be sufficient to fully describe a local collection and additional fields can be added for that purpose.
In the context of the VRA Core 3.0, a work is a physical entity that exists, has existed at some time in the past, or that could exist in the future. It might be an artistic creation such as a painting or a sculpture; it might be a performance, composition, or literary work; it might be a building or other construction in the built environment; or it might be an object of material culture. Works may be single items, or they may consist of many parts.
An image is a visual representation of a work. It can exist in photomechanical, photographic and digital formats. In a typical visual resources collection, an image is a reproduction of the work that is owned by the cataloging institution and is typically a slide, photograph, or digital file. A visual resources collection may own several images of a given work.

Libraries/Archives

• AACR / RDA (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules / Resource Description and Access)
The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) are “designed for use in the construction of catalogues and other lists in general libraries of all sizes. … The rules cover the description of, and the provision of access points for, all library materials commonly collected at the present time.”
• DC-Library Application profile
A library application profile will be a specification that defines the following:
* required elements
* permitted Dublin Core elements
* permitted Dublin Core qualifiers
* permitted schemes and values (e.g. use of a specific controlled vocabulary or encoding scheme)
* library domain elements used from another namespace
* additional elements/qualifiers from other application profiles that may be used (e.g. DC-Education: Audience)
* refinement of standard definitions
• EAD (Encoded Archival Description)
The EAD Document Type Definition (DTD) is a standard for encoding archival finding aids using Extensible Markup Language (XML).
• EAC (Encoded Archival Context)
International effort to develop an SGML/XML DTD for capturing the context in which records' creators operate, and the circumstances of record creation.
This document defines principles and criteria for designing, developing, and maintaining a representational scheme and communication structure for archival context information.
A description of archival records sufficient to support the accurate interpretation of the records must include a description of the circumstances that surrounded their creation and use. Primary among these circumstances is a recording of information about the creative responsibility for the records, usually vested in an organization or person(s). With this information, users can understand the records more completely since they will know the context within which the organization or person operated and created records.
• MADS (Metadata Authority Description Schema)
MADS is an XML schema for an authority element set that may be used to provide metadata about agents (people, organizations), events, and terms (topics, geographics, genres, etc.). MADS was created to serve as a companion to MODS. As such, MADS has a relationship to the MARC 21 Authority format, as MODS has to MARC 21 Bibliographic -- both carry selected data from MARC 21.
• METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard)
The METS schema is a standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library, expressed using the XML schema language of the World Wide Web Consortium.
• MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema)
A schema for a bibliographic element set that may be used for a variety of purposes, and particularly for library applications. As an XML schema, MODS is intended to be able to carry selected data from existing MARC 21 records as well as to enable the creation of original resource description records.
• RAD (Rules for Archival Description)
These rules aim to provide a consistent and common foundation for the description of archival material within a fonds, based on traditional archival principles. The application of the rules will result in descriptions for archival material at various levels, e.g., fonds, series, file, and item levels, and will aid in the construction or compilation of finding aids of all kinds. The rules cover the description of, and the provision of access points for, all forms of material, e.g., text, graphic material, moving images, commonly found in Canadian archives at the present time.

Digital Rights

• ODRL (Open Digital Rights Language)
The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Initiative is an international effort aimed at developing and promoting an open standard for the Digital Rights Management expression language. The ODRL specification supports an extensible language and vocabulary (data dictionary) for the expression of terms and conditions over any content including permissions, constraints, requirements, conditions, and offers and agreements with rights holders.
• indecs (INteroperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems)
The <indecs> project developed an analysis of the requirements for metadata for e-commerce in Intellectual Property (IP) in the network environment. At its heart, <indecs> proposed a very simple generic model of commerce: people make stuff; people use stuff; and (for commerce to take place) people make deals about the stuff. If secure machine-to-machine management of commerce is to be possible, the stuff, the people and the deals must all be securely identified and described in standardised ways that machines can interpret and use – metadata.
• XrML (eXtensible rights Markup Language
XrML provides a universal method for securely specifying and managing rights and conditions associated with all kinds of resources including digital content as well as services. XrML 2.0, announced on November 26, 2001, can be used in content-centric as well as service based business models.

Other

• AHDS (Arts and Humanities Data Service) metadata
The AHDS Common Metadata Framework (version 2.0) has been developed by the AHDS as an AHDS-wide descriptive (resource discovery) metadata schema for collections from all the relevant subject areas in the AHDS Collections Policy (archaeology, performing arts, history etc.). The CMF (Common Metadata Framework (version 2.0)) records are held in the AHDS Repository as XML documents and are made available in the AHDS catalogue. The CMF has been designed to ensure consistent searching and description of AHDS resources at deposit level.
• CCLRC (Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils) Scientific Metadata Format
The Data Management Group has developed a general scientific metadata model which allows it to annotate scientific data from various scientific domains. The model is under constant review and is continuously improved, it has been adopted by a number of international groups as well as being used by the CCLRC facilities and in a variety of e-Science projects that the group is engaged in.
• CDWA (Categories for the Description of Works of Art)
CDWA describes the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images. The CDWA includes 381 categories and subcategories. A small subset of categories are considered core in that they represent the minimum information necessary to identify and describe a work.
CDWA Lite is an XML schema to describe core records for works of art and material culture based on the CDWA and the CCO (Cataloging Cultural Objects: a guide to describing cultural works and their images). CDWA Lite records are intended for contribution to union catalogs and other repositories using the Open Archives Initiative harvesting protocol (OAI-PMH).
• CIDOC CRM (Conceptual Reference Model)
The CIDOC CRM is intended to promote a shared understanding of cultural heritage information by providing a common and extensible semantic framework that any cultural heritage information can be mapped to. It is intended to be a common language for domain experts and implementers to formulate requirements for information systems and to serve as a guide for good practice of conceptual modeling. In this way, it can provide the "semantic glue" needed to mediate between different sources of cultural heritage information, such as that published by museums, libraries and archives.
• DDI (Data Documentation Initiative)
The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an effort to establish an international XML-based standard for the content, presentation, transport, and preservation of documentation for datasets in the social and behavioral sciences.
• FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee)
Geospatial metadata are used to document geographic digital resources such as Geographic Information System (GIS) files, geospatial databases, and earth imagery. A geospatial metadata record includes core library catalog elements such as Title, Abstract, and Publication Data; geographic elements such as Geographic Extent and Projection Information; and database elements such as Attribute Label Definitions and Attribute Domain Values.
• OLAC (Open Language Archives Community)
OLAC metadata is used to describe language resources and to provide associated services. The set is based on the Dublin Core (DC) metadata set and uses all fifteen elements defined in that standard but it does allow the use of extensions to express community-specific qualifiers.
• ONIX (ONline Information eXchange)
EDItEUR is the international group coordinating development of the standards infrastructure for electronic commerce in the book and serials industries. EDItEUR provides its international membership with research, standards and guidance in such diverse areas as:
* EDI and other eCommerce standards for book and serial transactions
* Bibliographic and product information
* The standards infrastructure for digital publishing
* Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags
* Rights management and trading

• PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection)
The PICS specification enables labels (metadata) to be associated with Internet content. It was originally designed to help parents and teachers control what children access on the Internet, but it also facilitates other uses for labels, including code signing and privacy. The PICS platform is one on which other rating services and filtering software have been built.
• PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies)
The objectives of PREMIS were to:
* Develop a core preservation metadata set, supported by a data dictionary, with broad applicability across the digital preservation community.
* Identify and evaluate alternative strategies for encoding, storing, and managing preservation metadata in digital preservation systems.
The PREMIS working group, jointly sponsored by OCLC and RLG, was composed of international experts from institutions that had developed or were currently developing digital preservation capacity. The Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report of the PREMIS Working Group was released in May 2005.
• PRISM (Publishing Requirements for Industry Standard Metadata)
The PRISM specification defines an XML metadata vocabulary for managing, aggregating, post-processing, multi-purposing and aggregating magazine, news, catalog, book, and mainstream journal content. PRISM recommends the use of certain existing standards, such as XML, RDF, the Dublin Core, and various ISO specifications for locations, languages, and date/time formats. In addition PRISM provides a framework for the interchange and preservation of content and metadata, a collection of elements to describe that content, and a set of controlled vocabularies listing the values for those elements.
• TEI (Text Encoding Initiative)
The TEI is an international project to develop guidelines for the preparation and interchange of electronic texts for scholarly research, and to satisfy a broad range of uses by the language industries more generally. A new TEI Consortium has been formed to maintain and continue the work of the TEI.
• VERS (Victorian Electronic Records Strategy)
VERS has been developed by the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) to provide leadership and direction in the management of digital records. VERS is a solution to the problem of capturing, managing and preserving electronic records. It is a framework of standards, guidance, training, consultancy and implementation projects, which is centred around the goal of reliably and authentically archiving electronic records.

The above list has been constructed with the aid of Irvin Flack from the Centre for Learning Innovation, NSW Dept of Education and Training.

Nearly all of the above schema descriptions have been taken from the relevant web sites.