DCMI Grammatical Principles on DCMI

DCMI Grammatical Principles: Release History

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Release: Current Version
Release: 2002-10-29
Release: 2003-11-18
Release: 2003-02-07
Release: 2002-10-06
Release: 2007-12-03

DCMI Usage Board - Grammatical Principles

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Title: DCMI Grammatical Principles (SUPERSEDED, SEE DCMI Abstract Model)
Creator: DCMI Usage Board
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2007/12/03/principles/
Latest version: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/principles/
Replaces: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2003/11/18/principles/
Date modified: 2007-12-03
Description: This document describes the grammatical principles
                     that governed decisions of the Usage Board in
                     2003 and 2004. These principles were superseded in
                     2005 by the DCMI Recommendation DCMI Abstract Model.
                     The text of this document is identical to the text
                     of the 2003-11-18 version.

1. Scope of this grammar

This grammar presents the typology of DCMI metadata terms and
describes the principles underlying their definition and use.
As defined in the "Namespace Policy for the Dublin Core™",
a DCMI term is "a DCMI element, a DCMI qualifier or term from
a DCMI-maintained controlled vocabulary." A DCMI namespace,
in turn, is "a collection of DCMI terms" [2].

2. Elements and qualifiers


2.1. Elements

An Element is a property of a resource. As intended here,
"properties" are attributes of resources -- characteristics
that a resource may "have", such as a Title, Publisher,
or Subject.

2.2. Qualifiers

"Qualifiers" is the generic heading traditionally used
for terms now usually referred to specifically as Element
Refinements or Encoding Schemes.

2.2.1. Element Refinements.
An Element Refinement is a property of a resource which
shares the meaning of a particular DCMI Element but with
narrower semantics. In some application environments (notably
HTML-based encodings), Element Refinements are used together
with Elements in the manner of natural-language "qualifiers"
(i.e., adjectives) [3]. However, since Element Refinements are
properties of a resource (like Elements), Element Refinements
can alternatively be used in metadata records independently
of the properties they refine [9]. In DCMI practice, an
Element Refinement refines just one parent DCMI property.

2.2.2. Encoding Schemes.
An Encoding Scheme provides contextual information or parsing
rules that aid in the interpretation of a term value.
Such contextual information may take the form of controlled
vocabularies, formal notations, or parsing rules. If an
Encoding Scheme is not understood by a client or agent, the
value may still be useful to a human reader. There are two
types of Encoding Scheme:

2.2.2.1. Vocabulary Encoding Schemes 
Vocabulary Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a term 
from a controlled vocabulary, such as the value "China - History"
from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

2.2.2.2. Syntax Encoding Schemes 
Syntax Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a string 
formatted in accordance with a formal notation, such as "2000-01-01"
as the standard expression of a date.

2.3. Dumb-down Principle

The qualification of Dublin Core™ Elements is guided by a rule
known colloquially as the Dumb-Down Principle. According to
this rule, a client should be able to ignore any qualifier
and use the value as if it were unqualified. While this may
result in some loss of specificity, the remaining term value
(minus the qualifier) must continue to be generally correct
and useful for discovery. Qualification is therefore supposed
only to refine, not extend the semantic scope of an Element.

2.4. Appropriate values

Best practice for a particular Element or Qualifier may
vary by context. Definitions may provide some guidance;
other information may be found in the Usage Guide [6].

3. Vocabulary Terms

The Usage Board maintains the DCMI Type Vocabulary [7] --
a general, cross-domain list of recommended terms that may
be used as values for the Resource Type element to identify
the genre of a resource. The member terms of the DCMI Type
Vocabulary are called Vocabulary Terms.

If a Vocabulary Term is hierarchically related to another
Vocabulary Term, the relationship indicators "Broader Than"
and "Narrower Than" are used reciprocally in their term
declarations.

4. Application Profiles

In DCMI usage, an Application Profile is a declaration of
which metadata terms an organization, information resource,
application, or user community uses in its metadata [10].

REFERENCES

[1] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/mission/
[2] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/10/26/dcmi-namespace/
[3] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2731.txt 
[4] http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/dc-xml-guidelines/
[5] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-rdf-xml/
[6] http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/
[7] http://dublincore.org/usage/terms/dcmitype/
[8] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/04/12/usageguide/glossary.shtml
[9] A shift from the former view to the latter is reflected in
    the names assigned by the Usage Board to Element
    Refinements, with a move away from adjective-like
    names such as "created" (approved in July 2000)
    towards noun-phrase-like names such as "dateCopyrighted"
    (approved in July 2002). One consequence of using Element
    Refinements independently of Elements is that information
    about relationships between them will reside outside of
    the metadata records in separate schemas that applications
    needing to perform operations such as dumb-down will need
    to consult.
[10] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profiles/

DCMI Grammatical Principles

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Title: DCMI Grammatical Principles
Creator: DCMI Usage Board
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2003/11/18/principles/
Latest version: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/principles/
Replaces: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2003/02/07/principles/
Date modified: 2003-11-18
Description: This document describes the grammatical principles
                     that govern the decisions of the Usage Board as the
                     maintenance body for DCMI metadata semantics. See 
                     also a related document, "DCMI Usage Board
                     Mission" [1], and the Dublin Core™ Metadata Glossary
                     [8].

1. Scope of this grammar

This grammar presents the typology of DCMI metadata terms and
describes the principles underlying their definition and use.
As defined in the "Namespace Policy for the Dublin Core™",
a DCMI term is "a DCMI element, a DCMI qualifier or term from
a DCMI-maintained controlled vocabulary." A DCMI namespace,
in turn, is "a collection of DCMI terms" [2].

2. Elements and qualifiers


2.1. Elements

An Element is a property of a resource. As intended here,
"properties" are attributes of resources -- characteristics
that a resource may "have", such as a Title, Publisher,
or Subject.

2.2. Qualifiers

"Qualifiers" is the generic heading traditionally used
for terms now usually referred to specifically as Element
Refinements or Encoding Schemes.

2.2.1. Element Refinements.
An Element Refinement is a property of a resource which
shares the meaning of a particular DCMI Element but with
narrower semantics. In some application environments (notably
HTML-based encodings), Element Refinements are used together
with Elements in the manner of natural-language "qualifiers"
(i.e., adjectives) [3]. However, since Element Refinements are
properties of a resource (like Elements), Element Refinements
can alternatively be used in metadata records independently
of the properties they refine [9]. In DCMI practice, an
Element Refinement refines just one parent DCMI property.

2.2.2. Encoding Schemes.
An Encoding Scheme provides contextual information or parsing
rules that aid in the interpretation of a term value.
Such contextual information may take the form of controlled
vocabularies, formal notations, or parsing rules. If an
Encoding Scheme is not understood by a client or agent, the
value may still be useful to a human reader. There are two
types of Encoding Scheme:

2.2.2.1. Vocabulary Encoding Schemes 
Vocabulary Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a term 
from a controlled vocabulary, such as the value "China - History"
from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

2.2.2.2. Syntax Encoding Schemes 
Syntax Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a string 
formatted in accordance with a formal notation, such as "2000-01-01"
as the standard expression of a date.

2.3. Dumb-down Principle

The qualification of Dublin Core™ Elements is guided by a rule
known colloquially as the Dumb-Down Principle. According to
this rule, a client should be able to ignore any qualifier
and use the value as if it were unqualified. While this may
result in some loss of specificity, the remaining term value
(minus the qualifier) must continue to be generally correct
and useful for discovery. Qualification is therefore supposed
only to refine, not extend the semantic scope of an Element.

2.4. Appropriate values

Best practice for a particular Element or Qualifier may
vary by context. Definitions may provide some guidance;
other information may be found in the Usage Guide [6].

3. Vocabulary Terms

The Usage Board maintains the DCMI Type Vocabulary [7] --
a general, cross-domain list of recommended terms that may
be used as values for the Resource Type element to identify
the genre of a resource. The member terms of the DCMI Type
Vocabulary are called Vocabulary Terms.

If a Vocabulary Term is hierarchically related to another
Vocabulary Term, the relationship indicators "Broader Than"
and "Narrower Than" are used reciprocally in their term
declarations.

4. Application Profiles

In DCMI usage, an Application Profile is a declaration of
which metadata terms an organization, information resource,
application, or user community uses in its metadata [10].

REFERENCES

[1] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/mission/
[2] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/10/26/dcmi-namespace/
[3] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2731.txt 
[4] http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/dc-xml-guidelines/
[5] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-rdf-xml/
[6] http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/
[7] http://dublincore.org/usage/terms/dcmitype/
[8] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/04/12/usageguide/glossary.shtml
[9] A shift from the former view to the latter is reflected in
    the names assigned by the Usage Board to Element
    Refinements, with a move away from adjective-like
    names such as "created" (approved in July 2000)
    towards noun-phrase-like names such as "dateCopyrighted"
    (approved in July 2002). One consequence of using Element
    Refinements independently of Elements is that information
    about relationships between them will reside outside of
    the metadata records in separate schemas that applications
    needing to perform operations such as dumb-down will need
    to consult.
[10] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profiles/

DCMI Grammatical Principles

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Title: DCMI Grammatical Principles
Creator: DCMI Usage Board
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2003/02/07/principles/
Latest version: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/principles/
Replaced By: http://dublincore.org/usage/2003/11/18/documents/principles/
Date modified: 2003-02-07
Description: This document describes the grammatical principles
                     that govern the decisions of the Usage Board as the
                     maintenance body for DCMI metadata semantics. See 
                     also a related document, "DCMI Usage Board
                     Mission" [1], and the Dublin Core™ Metadata Glossary
                     [8].

1. Scope of this grammar

This grammar presents the typology of DCMI metadata terms and
describes the principles underlying their definition and use.
As defined in the "Namespace Policy for the Dublin Core™",
a DCMI term is "a DCMI element, a DCMI qualifier or term from
a DCMI-maintained controlled vocabulary." A DCMI namespace,
in turn, is "a collection of DCMI terms" [2].

2. Elements and qualifiers


2.1. Elements

An Element is a property of a resource. As intended here,
"properties" are attributes of resources -- characteristics
that a resource may "have", such as a Title, Publisher,
or Subject.

2.2. Qualifiers

"Qualifiers" is the generic heading traditionally used
for terms now usually referred to specifically as Element
Refinements or Encoding Schemes.

2.2.1. Element Refinements.
An Element Refinement is a property of a resource which
shares the meaning of a particular DCMI Element but with
narrower semantics. In some application environments (notably
HTML-based encodings), Element Refinements are used together
with Elements in the manner of natural-language "qualifiers"
(i.e., adjectives) [3]. However, since Element Refinements are
properties of a resource (like Elements), Element Refinements
can alternatively be used in metadata records independently
of the properties they refine [9]. In DCMI practice, an
Element Refinement refines just one parent DCMI property.

2.2.2. Encoding Schemes.
An Encoding Scheme provides contextual information or parsing
rules that aid in the interpretation of a term value.
Such contextual information may take the form of controlled
vocabularies, formal notations, or parsing rules. If an
Encoding Scheme is not understood by a client or agent, the
value may still be useful to a human reader. There are two
types of Encoding Scheme:

2.2.2.1. Vocabulary Encoding Schemes 
Vocabulary Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a term 
from a controlled vocabulary, such as the value "China - History"
from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

2.2.2.2. Syntax Encoding Schemes 
Syntax Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a string 
formatted in accordance with a formal notation, such as "2000-01-01"
as the standard expression of a date.

2.3. Dumb-down Principle

The qualification of Dublin Core™ Elements is guided by a rule
known colloquially as the Dumb-Down Principle. According to
this rule, a client should be able to ignore any qualifier
and use the value as if it were unqualified. While this may
result in some loss of specificity, the remaining term value
(minus the qualifier) must continue to be generally correct
and useful for discovery. Qualification is therefore supposed
only to refine, not extend the semantic scope of an Element.

2.4. Appropriate values

Best practice for a particular Element or Qualifier may
vary by context. Definitions may provide some guidance;
other information may be found in the Usage Guide [6].

3. Vocabulary Terms

The Usage Board maintains the DCMI Type Vocabulary [7] --
a general, cross-domain list of recommended terms that may
be used as values for the Resource Type element to identify
the genre of a resource. The member terms of the DCMI Type
Vocabulary are called Vocabulary Terms.

4. Application Profiles

In DCMI usage, an Application Profile is a declaration of
which metadata terms an organization, information resource,
application, or user community uses in its metadata [10].

REFERENCES

[1] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/mission/
[2] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/10/26/dcmi-namespace/
[3] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2731.txt 
[4] http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/dc-xml-guidelines/
[5] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-rdf-xml/
[6] http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/
[7] http://dublincore.org/usage/terms/dcmitype/
[8] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/04/12/usageguide/glossary.shtml
[9] A shift from the former view to the latter is reflected in
    the names assigned by the Usage Board to Element
    Refinements, with a move away from adjective-like
    names such as "created" (approved in July 2000)
    towards noun-phrase-like names such as "dateCopyrighted"
    (approved in July 2002). One consequence of using Element
    Refinements independently of Elements is that information
    about relationships between them will reside outside of
    the metadata records in separate schemas that applications
    needing to perform operations such as dumb-down will need
    to consult.
[10] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profiles/

DCMI Grammatical Principles

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Title: DCMI Grammatical Principles
Creator: DCMI Usage Board
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2002/10/29/principles/
Latest version: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/principles/
Date modified: 2002-10-29
Description: This document describes the grammatical principles
                     that govern the decisions of the Usage Board as the
                     maintenance body for DCMI metadata semantics. See 
                     also a related document, "DCMI Usage Board
                     Mission" [1], and the Dublin Core™ Metadata Glossary
                     [8].

1. Scope of this grammar

This grammar presents the typology of DCMI metadata terms and
describes the principles underlying their definition and use.
As defined in the "Namespace Policy for the Dublin Core™",
a DCMI term is "a DCMI element, a DCMI qualifier or term from
a DCMI-maintained controlled vocabulary." A DCMI namespace,
in turn, is "a collection of DCMI terms" [2].

2. Elements and qualifiers


2.1. Elements

An Element is a property of a resource. As intended here,
"properties" are attributes of resources -- characteristics
that a resource may "have", such as a Title, Publisher,
or Subject.

2.2. Qualifiers

"Qualifiers" is the generic heading traditionally used
for terms now usually referred to specifically as Element
Refinements or Encoding Schemes.

 2.2.1. Element Refinements.
An Element Refinement is a property of a resource which
shares the meaning of a particular DCMI Element but with
narrower semantics. In some application environments (notably
HTML-based encodings), Element Refinements are used together
with Elements in the manner of natural-language "qualifiers"
(i.e., adjectives) [3]. However, since Element Refinements are
properties of a resource (like Elements), Element Refinements
can alternatively be used in metadata records independently
of the properties they refine [9]. In DCMI practice, an
Element Refinement refines just one parent DCMI property.

 2.2.2. Encoding Schemes.
An Encoding Scheme provides contextual information or parsing
rules that aid in the interpretation of a term value.
Such contextual information may take the form of controlled
vocabularies, formal notations, or parsing rules. If an
Encoding Scheme is not understood by a client or agent, the
value may still be useful to a human reader. There are two
types of Encoding Scheme:

2.2.2.1. Vocabulary
Encoding Schemes indicate that the value is a term from a
controlled vocabulary, such as the value "China - History"
from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

2.2.2.2. Syntax Encoding
Schemes indicate that the value is a string formatted in
accordance with a formal notation, such as "2000-01-01"
as the standard expression of a date.

2.3. Dumb-down Principle

The qualification of Dublin Core™ Elements is guided by a rule
known colloquially as the Dumb-Down Principle. According to
this rule, a client should be able to ignore any qualifier
and use the value as if it were unqualified. While this may
result in some loss of specificity, the remaining term value
(minus the qualifier) must continue to be generally correct
and useful for discovery. Qualification is therefore supposed
only to refine, not extend the semantic scope of an Element.

2.4. Appropriate values

Best practice for a particular Element or Qualifier may
vary by context. Definitions may provide some guidance;
other information may be found in the Usage Guide [6].


3. Vocabulary Terms

The Usage Board maintains the DCMI Type Vocabulary [7] --
a general, cross-domain list of recommended terms that may
be used as values for the Resource Type element to identify
the genre of a resource. The member terms of the DCMI Type
Vocabulary are called Vocabulary Terms.

4. Application Profiles

In DCMI usage, an Application Profile is a declaration of
which metadata terms an organization, information resource,
application, or user community uses in its metadata [10].

REFERENCES

[1] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/mission/
[2] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/10/26/dcmi-namespace/
[3] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2731.txt 
[4] http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/dc-xml-guidelines/
[5] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-rdf-xml/
[6] http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/
[7] http://dublincore.org/usage/terms/dcmitype/
[8] http://dublincore.org/documents/2001/04/12/usageguide/glossary.shtml
[9] A shift from the former view to the latter is reflected in
    the names assigned by the Usage Board to Element
    Refinements, with a move away from adjective-like
    names such as "created" (approved in July 2000)
    towards noun-phrase-like names such as "dateCopyrighted"
    (approved in July 2002). One consequence of using Element
    Refinements independently of Elements is that information
    about relationships between them will reside outside of
    the metadata records in separate schemas that applications
    needing to perform operations such as dumb-down will need
    to consult.
[10] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profiles/

DCMI Grammatical Principles

Sun, 06 Oct 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Title: DCMI Grammatical Principles
Creator: DCMI Usage Board
Identifier: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/2002/10/06/principles/
Latest version: http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/principles/
Date modified: 2002-10-06
Description: As of October 2002, this statement of grammatical
                     principles was under revision. Users interested in
                     the latest draft should contact the Usage Board.

1. DCMI metadata grammar

Dublin Core™ may be seen as a small language for making a
particular class of statements about resources. Like natural
languages, it has a vocabulary of word-like terms, the two
classes of which -- elements and qualifiers -- function within
statements like nouns and adjectives; and it has a syntax for
arranging elements and qualifiers into statements according to a
simple pattern. Optional qualifiers may make the meaning of a
property more definite, as in "Resource has dc:date dcq:revised
'2000-06-13'."

Vocabulary terms in Dublin Core™ refer to elements, qualifiers,
or terms in controlled vocabularies maintained by DCMI.
Vocabulary terms are uniquely defined in namespaces [2].

Strictly speaking, a Dublin Core™ element or qualifier is a
unique identifier formed by a name (e.g., title) prefixed by the
URI of the namespace in which it is defined, as in
http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title. In this context, a
namespace is a vocabulary that has been formally published,
usually on the Web; it describes elements and qualifiers with
natural-language labels, definitions, and other relevant
documentation.


2.1. Elements

An element is a property of a resource.

2.2. Qualifiers

Qualifiers modify the properties of Dublin Core™ statements by
specifying, in the manner of natural-language adjectives, "what
kind" of subject, date, or relation. Qualifiers currently fall
into two classes:


2.2.1. Element Refinements. An element refinement is a
qualifier that makes the meaning of an element narrower or more
specific. A refined element shares the meaning of the
unqualified element, but with a more restricted scope. A client
that does not understand a specific element refinement term
should be able to ignore the qualifier and treat the metadata
value as if it were an unqualified (broader) element. The
definitions of element refinement terms for qualifiers must be
publicly available.


2.2.2. Encoding Schemes. Encoding schemes are pointers to
contextual information or parsing rules that aid in the
interpretation of an element value. These schemes include
controlled vocabularies and formal notations or parsing rules.
A value expressed using an encoding scheme will thus be a token
selected from a controlled vocabulary (e.g., a term from a
classification system or set of subject headings) or a string
formatted in accordance with a formal notation (e.g.,
"2000-01-01" as the standard expression of a date). If an
encoding scheme is not understood by a client or agent, the
value may still be useful to a human reader. The definitive
description of an encoding scheme for qualifiers must be clearly
identified and available for public use.

2.3. Dumb-down Principle

The qualification of Dublin Core™ properties is guided by a rule
known colloquially as the Dumb-Down Principle. According to
this rule, a client should be able to ignore any qualifier and
use the value as if it were unqualified. While this may result
in some loss of specificity, the remaining element value (minus
the qualifier) must continue to be generally correct and useful
for discovery. Qualification is therefore supposed only to
refine, not extend the semantic scope of a property.

2.4. Appropriate values

Best practice for a particular element or qualifier may vary by
context. Definitions may provide some guidance; other
information may be found in the User's Guide [4].


2.5. Controlled-Vocabulary terms

The Usage Board maintains the DCMI Type Vocabulary -- a
general, cross-domain list of recommended terms that may
be used as values for the Resource Type element to identify
the genre of a resource. The member terms of the DCMI Type
Vocabulary are called Controlled-Vocabulary Terms.

REFERENCES

[1] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/process/
[2] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-namespace/
[3] http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profiles/
[4] http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/