ITGumbo: spicing IT up

Step 2: How to define metadata? - Standard definition of metadata

The agencies that develop the product/service must be responsible for defining the metadata. For every object that is being sold in the market there are some standards that must be implemented for compliance. It must be the responsibility of these standards organisation to publish the RDF resource URI and the associated metadata. The developer's and providers can then use this URI and metadata. Some methods for metadata definition are:

• Dublin Core vocabulary
  

  Dublin Core Metadata Initiative provides basic attributes that can be included in a web resource metadata. Find the basic metadata attributes for a term in this vocabulary. Here is how the "DSL" web resource basic description will look like:

  Element Name	Value
  Name	DSL
  URI	http://exampledsl.org/connections/dsl
  Label	DSL
  Definition	Digital Subscriber Line definition from DSL forum
  Type of Term	element
  Status	conforming
  Date issued	2007-04-27



• Standards Organization vocabulary
  

  These elements will describe the physical characteristics and service features that the service provider must inform to the consumer. The service provider will use these terms (metadata elements) provided by the standards body to describe the service in the web content. Following metadata elements may be defined in the "DSL" term Application Profile by the organization like DSL forum.

  uplink bandwidth
  
  connection speed
  
  subscription cost
  
  e-mail accounts
  
  download quota
  
  ...
  

Hence the service provider will have the following information to describe a web resource identified in the web content information statement:

• Basic metadata attributes and elements provided by the Dublin Core
• Standard property terms provided by the standards organization
• Local properties defined by the provider

The former two will provide RDF terms that will be used for semantic web applications. This sort of metadata definition will enable the "open market" type of applications that will require machine processable Application Profile for semantic crosswalks. More objective information as compared to this will be available to the consumer.