RDF Site Summary 1.0 Modules: Dublin Core

Authors

Gabe Beged-Dov, JFinity Systems LLC
Dan Brickley, ILRT
Rael Dornfest, O'Reilly & Associates
Ian Davis, Calaba, Ltd.
Leigh Dodds, xmlhack
Jonathan Eisenzopf, Whirlwind Interactive
David Galbraith, Moreover.com
R.V. Guha, guha.com
Ken MacLeod, (Independent)
Eric Miller, Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
Aaron Swartz, The Info Network
Eric van der Vlist, Dyomedea

Version

Latest Version: http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/dc/

1.4.1 2000-12-20 (editor: SBP - cleaned up markup)

1.4 2000-12-09

Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute the RDF Site Summary 1.0 Specification and its accompanying documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted in perpetuity, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph appear in all copies. The copyright holders make no representation about the suitability of the specification for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

This copyright applies to the RDF Site Summary 1.0 Specification and accompanying documentation and does not extend to the RSS format itself.

Description

The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set provides some standard metadata elements. These are listed below for your quick reference; be sure to visit the Dublin Core site for more specifics.

Namespace Declarations

xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"

Model

<channel>, <item>, <image>, and <textinput> Elements:

<dc:title> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:creator> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:subject> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:description> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:publisher> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:contributor> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:date> ( #PCDATA ) [W3CDTF]
<dc:type> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:format> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:identifier> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:source> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:language> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:relation> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:coverage> ( #PCDATA )
<dc:rights> ( #PCDATA )

While the present version of the Dublin Core module follows the standard practice of string literal values, we expect the module to evolve richer semantics. The form currently under discussion works with a taxonomy module to provide a resource-based topic definition ("as in...") while also providing a string literal via rdf:value. This is termed, in some circles, a "dumbed down" approach; richer semantics for those who can deal with them, plain text default value for those who can't / aren't interested.

For example:

...
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:taxo="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/taxonomy/"
  xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
>
  ...
  <item rdf:about="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r123">
    <title>XML: A Disruptive Technology</title> 
    <link>http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r123</link>
    <dc:subject>
       <rdf:Description>
          <taxo:topic rdf:resource="http://dmoz.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Markup_Languages/XML/" />
          <rdf:value>XML</rdf:value>
       </rdf:Description>
    </dc:subject>
    <dc:subject>
       <rdf:Description>
          <taxo:topic rdf:resource="http://www.oreillynet.com/meerkat/?c=cat23" />
          <rdf:value>Data: XML</rdf:value>
       </rdf:Description>
    </dc:subject>
  </item>
  ...

Sample RSS documents illustrating simple (current) and rich versions are available for your reference. The rich version will be maintained so as to be compliant with current discussion.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 

<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
> 

  <channel rdf:about="http://meerkat.oreillynet.com/?_fl=rss1.0">
    <title>Meerkat</title>
    <link>http://meerkat.oreillynet.com</link>
    <description>Meerkat: An Open Wire Service</description>
    <dc:publisher>The O'Reilly Network</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>Rael Dornfest (mailto:rael@oreilly.com)</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright © 2000 O'Reilly &amp; Associates, Inc.</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2000-01-01T12:00+00:00</dc:date>

    <image rdf:resource="http://meerkat.oreillynet.com/icons/meerkat-powered.jpg" />

    <items>
      <rdf:Seq>
        <rdf:li resource="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r123" />
      </rdf:Seq>
    </items>

    <textinput rdf:resource="http://meerkat.oreillynet.com" />

  </channel>

  <image rdf:about="http://meerkat.oreillynet.com/icons/meerkat-powered.jpg">
    <title>Meerkat Powered!</title>
    <url>http://meerkat.oreillynet.com/icons/meerkat-powered.jpg</url>
    <link>http://meerkat.oreillynet.com</link>
  </image>

  <item rdf:about="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r123">
    <title>XML: A Disruptive Technology</title> 
    <link>http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r123</link>
    <dc:description>
      XML is placing increasingly heavy loads on the existing technical
      infrastructure of the Internet.
    </dc:description>
    <dc:publisher>The O'Reilly Network</dc:publisher>
    <dc:creator>Simon St.Laurent (mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com)</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright © 2000 O'Reilly &amp; Associates, Inc.</dc:rights>
    <dc:subject>XML</dc:subject>
  </item> 

  <textinput rdf:about="http://meerkat.oreillynet.com">
    <title>Search Meerkat</title>
    <description>Search Meerkat's RSS Database...</description>
    <name>s</name>
    <link>http://meerkat.oreillynet.com/</link>
  </textinput>

</rdf:RDF>