Metadata Spec
From D3A2wiki
The D3A2 Metadata Standard v1.0
This document uses EdNA (Education Network Australia) Metadata Standard v1.1 as the template for presentation of the D3A2 Metadata Standard v1.0.
The D3A2 Metadata Standard is based on the internationally recognized Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES). The D3A2 Metadata Standard v1.0 is the collaborative result of the D3A2 Content Committee and its specifically-designated Metadata Definition Sub-committee together with other committees of D3A2 (Data & Technology, User, Policy, Intellectual Property, and Resource).
The purpose of the D3A2 Metadata Standard is to define the data elements (mandatory, desirable and optional) for content providers to permit entry and use of their content via the D3A2 system. This document supports the following definitions as set forth in the D3A2 Intellectual Property Rights Policy and the D3A2 Content Repository Collection Policy (for Phase 1):
- 2.1 D3A2 metadata record: A metadata record created by content providers to allow use of
their content in the D3A2 system, conforming to the definitions and requirements of the D3A2 content repository.
- 2.2 Service Provider: An entity that provides services to the education community based
fully or in part on D3A2 metadata or the schemas and application profiles upon which such metadata is based.
- 2.3 D3A2 metadata repository: The aggregation of D3A2 metadata records contributed by
content providers.
- 2.4 Metadata distribution: The aggregation of D3A2 metadata records contributed by
content providers.
What is metadata as used by the D3A2 Initiative?
For educators, the response includes three key points:
- Metadata is the data that describes a resource so that it can be retrieved accurately.
- Metadata matches the resource to a particular standard, benchmark and/or indicator.
- Metadata allows the system to know the type/function of the resource; for example, lesson plan.
Metadata is structured in a consistent and standard manner to help facilitate the management, discovery and retrieval of resources from the D3A2 system. It is the current intention of the D3A2 initiative to support a centralized metadata repository to allow access to the described content/resources. The actual content or resource may or may not be aggregated in a central repository at a later stage.
Metadata standards allow the creators of resources and managers of resource collections to describe the content/resources in a detailed manner that helps facilitate targeted queries by search engines for users of the D3A2 system. The metadata record will consist of elements as defined in this document comprised of mandatory, desirable and optional elements available from the content provider.
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
The D3A2 Metadata Standard is based on the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an international collaborative effort to establish and maintain standards for describing Internet resources to enable targeted resource discovery and interoperability of information exchange. Key principles of Dublin Core’s metadata standard specification relevant to D3A2 include “simplicity”, interoperability”, “extensibility” and “refinement”.
Educational metadata standards(1)
The D3A2 Metadata Standard uses a presentation model based on EdNA. Similar to EdNA, D3A2 extends the scope of description that can be included in a metadata record with information relevant to the educational domain. This is done by defining education-specific elements, element refinements or encoding schemes. For example, D3A2 describes the OSIC (Ohio Standard Identifier Code) as both an education-specific element and an encoding scheme used to refine and auto-generate other metadata elements: standard, content and grade.
The addition of education-specific and Ohio-specific elements and element qualifiers is consistent with the extensibility principles of Dublin Core, helps meet specific requirements applicable to the Ohio education domain and supports the operational requirements of the D3A2 system.
(1) The sections "Dublin Core Metadata Initiative" and "Educational metadata standards" paraphrase EdNA's description of their standard set based on Dublin Core and used as a model to lay the groundwork for the D3A2 Metadata Standard v1.0.
D3A2 educational metadata standard
The D3A2 Metadata Standard uses the elements, refinements and encoding schemes offered by Dublin Core and extends the Dublin Core set to meet specific requirements applicable to the D3A2 system. An example of this is the introduction of the element OSIC, the Ohio Standard Identifier Code. The elements are shown as x.term where x is the source of the term/element ("dc" for Dublin Core or d3a2) and term is the element, the refinement or the encoding scheme. Examples of each are shown below:
dc.Identifier d3a2.OSIC
Term definitions for the D3A2 Metadata Standard v1.0
- Mandatory
- Element/term must be included by the content provider in the metadata record or be system-generated for acceptance into the D3A2 repository.
- Desirable
- Element/term that can be included in the metadata record and usually is defined as the content provider deems applicable. Provider metadata records including these desirable elements will become part of the D3A2 metadata repository.
- Optional
- Element/term is additional information in the metadata record to help the user refine/target queries for resources. Provider metadata records including these optional elements will become part of the D3A2 metadata repository.
- Element
- A main described term in the metadata records with the assigned D3A2 repository status equal to required, desirable, or optional. Elements can be refined or further described by an Element Refinement or qualified by an Encoding Scheme.
- Element Refinement
- A main element/term is further described and defined for more precise control over the content/resource. For example, DC.Abstract refines the term DC.Description. Element refinements are conforming terms.
- Encoding Scheme
- A main element/term is further described and defined by use of an encoding scheme. For example, URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) is a standard encoding scheme for DC.Identifier, DC.Source and DC.Relation. Encoding schemes are registered or have been defined as a standard coding scheme used specifically to input values for a metadata element. D3A2.Standard, D3A2.Grade and D3A2.Content are inherently contained in the D3A2.OSIC schema.
- Vocabulary Term/Value
- Values for encoding schemes are identified and defined. This document includes values for DC.Type, D3A2.Function, D3A2- function_group, D3A2-instructional_component, D3A2- item_source, D3A2-item_type, D3A2-content, D3A2-prof_dev, D3A2.Format, D3A2-format, D3A2-carrier, DC.Audience, D3A2- audience, and D3A2-sector.
Mandatory metadata elements for D3A2
Mandatory Metadata Element for D3A2
There are three levels of element “requirement” or status for the inclusion of content/resources in the D3A2 system. The list of 11 required elements which must be part of the provider’s metadata record is shown below. D3A2.dateEntered and DC.Identifier are metadata fields auto-populated by the D3A2 system.
