CWA 15248:2005

Guidelines for machine-processable representation of Dublin Core Application Profiles

Scope

Since the release of CWA 14855, significant work has been carried out defining a DCMI Abstract Model which has been made available, at the time of endorsement of this CWA (January 2005), as a DCMI Working Draft [POWELL]. The DCMI Abstract Model provides a reference model against which guidelines for encoding DC metadata can be compared, clarifying many aspects of the nature of a Dublin Core description.
Alignment with this work suggests the use of more precise terminology when describing DCAPs. CWA 14855 defines a DCAP as a declaration specifying which metadata terms an organisation, information provider, or user community uses in its metadata. A DCAP identifies the source of metadata terms used. Optionally, CWA 14855 states, a DCAP may provide additional documentation on how the terms are constrained, encoded, or interpreted for application-specific purposes.
However, taking the DCMI Abstract Model into account we can be more precise in our language within the definition of a DCAP. A DCAP is primarily concerned with declaring 'property usages', and the DCAP specifies and optionally constrains or restricts the use of properties. These changes in terminology are outlined in the Definitions section below.
Given the limited timescale and effort, these DCAP Guidelines are concerned with modelling DCAPs that are used as the basis for descriptions of a single resource, and do not address the more complex case relating to 'description sets' relating to multiple resources as outlined in the DCMI Abstract Model. Further work is required to consider how a DCAP might be structured to declare property usages about multiple resources. In summary, this CWA will focus on the expression of stable, well structured, non-complex DCAPs.