Ask DCMI: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an organization dedicated to promoting the widespread adoption of interoperable metadata standards and developing specialized metadata vocabularies for describing resources that enable more intelligent information discovery systems.

DCMI. Design>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Beyond Text and Graphics: XML Makes Web Pages Function Like Applications

XML is displacing the traditional 'web page'--generally a static document, created with HTML. Most traditional web pages offer only slim interactivity and rely on an overworked server and CGI script. XML is promoting the concept of a 'weblication' (web application) that can work wonders on the web client without generating so much Internet traffic.

Freter, Todd. Sun Microsystems (1998). Design>Web Design>Metadata>XML

Building a Metadata-Based Website

The online world has been flooded in recent years with talk of metadata, structured authoring, and cascading style sheets. The idea of a semantic web is gaining momentum. At the confluence of these two broad categories of activity, new models of websites are emerging.

Lider, Brett and Anca Mosoiu. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

Building the Semantic Web

In the information age it is widely understood that there is now too much information. Some of this newly created information will most certainly be valuable, but despite marked improvement in search tools, finding the valuable information is a slow panhandle. Perhaps in light of this situation, the W3C under the direction of Berners-Lee has begun to build the foundation for the next phase of the web. This phase, called the Semantic Web, will make information stored with this technology much more processible by machines.

Emonds-Banfield, Peter. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>Web Design>XML>Metadata

Clasificaciones Facetadas y Metadatos (I): Conceptos Básicos

Los metadatos son información relativa a otra información. Al definir un grupo de metadatos para un objeto dado, estamos describiendo el objeto en cuestión, lo estamos caracterizando. Por ejemplo, HTML permite definir metadatos para una página web a través de su etiqueta . Esos metadatos (author, keywords...) caracterizan la página, describen su contenido. Los metadatos, utilizados tradicionalmente en el entorno bibliotecario, están resultando de gran utilidad en la Web, tanto en Sistemas de Recuperación de Información (back-end) como en Sistemas de Navegación (front-end).

Hassan Montero, Yusef and Francisco Jesus Martin Fernandez. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design>Metadata

Clasificaciones Facetadas y Metadatos (y II): XFML

XFML (eXchangeable Faceted Metadata Language), creado por Peter Van Dijck, es un lenguaje o vocabulario con sintaxis XML para definir, distribuir e intercambiar metadatos en forma de taxonomías o clasificaciones facetadas.

Hassan Montero, Yusef and Francisco Jesus Martin Fernandez. Nosolousabilidad.com. (Spanish) Design>Information Design>Metadata>XFML

La Classificazione Come Investimento Nella Qualità dell'Informazione

La classificazione rappresenta un investimento che comporta dei costi nel breve termine, ma che dà anche notevoli frutti nel lungo termine (se impostata correttamente). Fra i sistemi di classificazione, quello a faccette (o multidimensionale) è sicuramente il più potente e versatile (nonostante gli schemi affermatisi come standard nella maggioranza delle biblioteche sono assai distanti da quello a faccette).

Gnoli, Claudio. AIB (2003). (Italian) Articles>Information Design>Metadata

Coloring Outside the Lines

Once upon a time, we were curious and everything we encountered was new. We were excited about discovering new things and the world offered unlimited possibilities. Then we went to school and were taught to color inside the lines, that everything had its place and the world was ordered.

Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>Instructional Design>Metadata

Commercializing the Semantic Web

The Semantic Web really is an attempt to reconceptualize and reengineer AI for the Web. Discusses the path forward for successfully selling and developing Semantic Web technology into industry.

Clark, Kendall Grant. XML.com (2003). Design>Information Design>Metadata>XML

Controlled Vocabularies: A Glosso-Thesaurus

'There is a singular lack of vocabulary control in the field of controlled vocabularies,' Bella Hass Weinberg, professor of library science at St. John's University in New York, is fond of saying. To help you cut through the maze of verbiage often found in this field, we have created a glossary of terms.

Fast, Karl, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Controlled Vocabulary

Controlled Vocabulary.com

A controlled vocabulary makes a database easier to search. Since we have many different ways of describing concepts, drawing all of these terms together under a single word or phrase in a database makes searching the database more efficient as it eliminates guess work. However, arriving at this efficiency requires consistency on the part of the individual indexing the database and the use of pre-determined terms.

ControlledVocabulary.com. Resources>Content Management>Metadata>Controlled Vocabulary

Creating a Controlled Vocabulary

You have probably heard information architects discussing the benefits of their latest taxonomy project and how you should be implementing one. But how, you might wonder, can you get started? In the next installment about Controlled Vocabularies, our authors go into detail about one methodology.

Fast, Karl, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Metadata>Controlled Vocabulary

Data Collection for Controlled Vocabulary Interoperability: Dublin Core Audience Element

This paper outlines the assumptions, process and results of a pilot study of issues of interoperability among a set of seven existing controlled vocabulary schemes that make statements about the audience of an educational resource.

Tennis, Joseph T. ASIST (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Controlled Vocabulary

Data: The Essence of a Digital Lifestyle

I've been thinking a lot about metadata recently, but not from the standpoint of XML or programming or helping to organize and index data. My interest is in the future of content ownership, delivery, and value. I see a future for media that looks very different from the media of today. The germ of this idea actually came from my experiences with online movie rentals.

Knemeyer, Dirk. UXmatters (2005). Articles>User Experience>XML>Metadata

A Day In The Life Of BBCi Search

Since BBCi launched in November 2001, its search offering has been collecting data on the way that BBC website users search both the BBC's website, and through its homepage Websearch , the whole wide web. Given such a mass of data, the easiest way to aggregate and make sense of it has been to measure the search terms that are most popular. Indeed, the BBCi homepage has a panel displaying the three most popular search terms of the moment, and an editorial and taxonomy team at the BBC constantly monitor the searches gaining high volume in order to match the correct content to them.

Currybet.net (2002). Design>Information Design>Metadata>XFML

DC dot: Dublin Core Metadata Editor

This service will retrieve a Web page and automatically generate Dublin Core metadata, either as HTML META tags or as RDF/XML, suitable for embedding in the HEAD section of the page.

University of Koln. Resources>Information Design>Software>Metadata

Defining an XML Document Model with a DTD

An XML document is considered 'well written' when its syntax is correct, and 'valid' when it respects a document model. While a document must be 'well written,' it does not necessarily have to be 'valid.' However, as XML is a meta language, there are an infinite number of XML formats, and most XML documents should respect a particular document model, which can be defined in one of two ways: By a Document Type Definition (DTD); By an XML Schema. In this article, we are going to look at how you should go about implementing the former, using a DTD.

Gallard, Samuel. Intranet Journal. Design>Web Design>XML>Metadata

Demystifying Information Modeling  

The information model is a framework for organizing all the information people need.

Hackos, JoAnn T. ComTech Services (2002). Design>Information Design>Project Management>Metadata

Describing Document Structure  

Discusses some different ways of describing your document structure so that both computers and humans know what you mean.

Tyson, Paul H. Intercom (2003). Design>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Describing Document Structure, Part 2  

Discusses some different ways of describing your document structure so that both computers and humans know what you mean.

Tyson, Paul H. Intercom (2003). Design>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns

Proposes the design of an XML-based type library format. If you've had exposure to Microsoft COM or Mozilla's XPCOM, you're probably familiar with their binary TLB (MS) and XDT (Mozilla) formats that define the available operations and interfaces for a package of portable components. An interpreted language such as JavaScript can use these definitions as cheat sheets to find out what operations and parameters are available to call on-the-fly.

Downey, Kyle. XML.com (2003). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Developing and Creatively Leveraging Hierarchical Metadata and Taxonomy

In content metadata and hierarchies, you will often find a goldmine of implicit and explicit data that you can leverage to creatively contextualize content. After a brief introduction on taxonomy and metadata, this article focuses on finding and utilizing such relationships in hierarchies.

Ricci, Christian. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

DITA Resources Online (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)

If you need to learn more about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), look no further. Links to a few of the most useful DITA resources available on the web today.

Rockley Group, The (2005). Resources>Content Management>Metadata>XML

DITA: What You Need To know about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture  

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is a hot topic among those who author, edit, deliver and manage content. But adopting a standard architecture is an important decision that requires up front research and knowledge of the pitfalls. Find out if DITA is right for your organization. Read this whitepaper to learn more (PDF).

Manning, Steve. Rockley Group, The (2005). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>XML

Document (re)Presentation: Object-orientation, Visual Language, and XML    

This article demonstrates how the combination of object-orientation and Horn's notions of visual language morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics may be used to analyze and describe the mapping of marked-up XML files onto user documents. The article also raises the question of whether—or to what extent—the coupling of object-orientation and visual language might be exploited more directly for design purposes in a document production paradigm based on XML.

Johnsen, Lars. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Content Management>XML>Metadata