METADATA IN USE

Examples of firms, agencies, and research into the design, development, and application of meta-information. A summary of activities and positions.

• Directory Interchange Format (DIF). (http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/difguide/difman.html)
  DIF is the acronym for Directory Interchange Format, a de-facto standard used to create directory entries which describe a group of data. A DIF consists of a collection of fields which detail specific information about the data. Six fields are required in the DIF; the others expand upon and clarify the information. Some of the fields are text fields, others require the use of valid values.
  
  
• Dublin-Core. (http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core)
  The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set represents a simple resource description record. Elements include Title, Author or Creator, Description.
  • SOLINET's Monticello Electronic Library. (http://www.solinet.net/monticello/monticel.htm)
  • The National Library of Australia and the National Library of New Zealand's National Document and Information Service (NDIS) Project. (http://www.nla.gov.au/2/NDIS/)
  • The Nordic Metadata Project. (http://linnea.helsinki.fi/meta/index.html)
  • TURNIP. (http://www.dstc.edu.au/RDU/TURNIP/)
  
  
• Encoded Archival Description (EAD). (http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/standards/ead/)
  DTD in SGML. The goal of the [preliminary project] was to investigate the desirability and feasibility of developing a non-proprietary encoding standard for machine-readable finding aids, that is, inventories, registers, indexes, and other documents created by archives, libraries, museums, and manuscript repositories to support the use of their holdings.
  
  
• FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC). (http://www.fgdc.gov/Metadata/metahome.html)
  The standard specifies the information content of metadata for a set of digital geospatial data. The purpose of the standard is to provide a common set of terminology and definitions for documentation related to these metadata. The standard provides a common set of terminology and definitions for the documentation of geospatial data. The standard establishes the names of data elements and groups of data elements to be used for these purposes, the definitions of these data elements and groups, and information about the values that are to be provided for the data elements. Information about terms that are mandatory, mandatory under certain conditions, and optional (provided at the discretion of the data provider) also is provided by the standard.
  • National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. (http://www.fgdc.gov/clearinghouse/index.html)
  
  
• Government Information Locator Service (GILS). (http://www.usgs.gov/gils/)
  As part of the Federal role in the National Information Infrastructure, GILS identifies and describes information resources throughout the Federal government, and provides assistance in obtaining the information. GILS supplements other government and commercial information dissemination mechanisms, and uses international standards for information search and retrieval so that information can be retrieved in a variety of ways.

  GILS fully specifies the use of ANSI/NISO Z39.50. This version (2) of the GILS Profile focuses on requirements for a GILS server operating in the Internet environment. GILS clients will be able to interconnect with any GILS server, and these clients will behave in a manner that allows interoperability with the GILS server. Clients that support Z39.50 but do not implement the GILS Profile will be able to access GILS records with less than full GILS functionality.

  Use Attributes: Title (4, Title); Local Number (12; Local Control Number); Author-name corporate (1005; Originator); Date/Time Last Modified (1012; Date of Last Modification); Record Source (1019; Record Source); Distributor Name (2001; Distributor Name); Subject Terms Controlled (2002; Subject Terms Controlled); Local Subject Index (29; Subject Terms Uncontrolled); Any (1016), Anywhere (1035)

  • EPA. (http://www.epa.gov/gils/)
  • NOAA (http://www.esdim.noaa.gov/NOAA-Catalog/gils.html)
  • USPS. (http://www.usps.gov/GILS/mainlist.html)
  
  
• Meta Content Framework (MCF). (http://mcf.research.apple.com/hs/mcf.html)
  The goal of MCF is to provide an adequate system for representing a wide range of information about content. The content targeted includes web pages, gopher and ftp files, desktop files, email and structured (i.e., relational and object oriented) databases, etc.
  
  
• Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS). (http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/PICS/)
  PICS is an infrastructure for associating labels (metadata) 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, privacy, and intellectual property rights management.
  
  
• Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS). (http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/)
  The Spatial Data Transfer Standard, or SDTS, is a robust way of transferring earth-referenced spatial data between dissimilar computer systems with the potential for no information loss. It is a transfer standard that embraces the philosophy of self-contained transfers, i.e. spatial data, attribute, georeferencing, data quality report, data dictionary, and other supporting metadata all included in the transfer.
  • USGS. (http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/implement.html)
  
  
• Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). (http://www.uic.edu/orgs/tei/)
  The Text Encoding Initiative (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. Uses SGML.
  
  
• USMARC. (http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/)
  The USMARC formats are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form. A USMARC record involves three elements: the record structure, the content designation, and the data content of the record.

Metadata Resources : (http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/II/metadata.htm)

Contact: metadata@alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu