Metadata standards are requirements which are intended to establish a common understanding of the meaning or semantics

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....

 of the data

Data

The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...

, to ensure correct and proper use and interpretation of the data by its owners and users. To achieve this common understanding, a number of characteristics, or attributes of the data have to be defined, also known as metadata

Metadata

The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...

.

Metadata

Metadata is often defined as data about data . It is “structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use or manage an information resource”, especially in a distributed network environment like for example the internet or an organization. A good example of metadata is the cataloging

Cataloging

Cataloging is the process of listing or include something in a catalog. In library science is is the producing of bibliographical descriptions of books or other kinds of documents...

 system found in libraries, which records for example the author, title, subject, and location on the shelf of a resource.

Metadata

Metadata

The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...

 is usually categorized in three types:

• Descriptive metadata describes an information resource for identification and retrieval through elements such as title, author, and abstract.
• Structural metadata documents relationships within and among objects through elements such as links to other components (e.g., how pages are put together to form chapters).
• Administrative metadata helps to manage information resources through elements such as version number, archiving date, and other technical information for purposes of file management, rights management and preservation.

Available metadata standards

Metadata elements grouped into sets designed for a specific purpose, e.g., for a specific domain or a particular type of information resource, are called metadata schemes. For every element the name and the semantics (the meaning of the element) are specified. Content rules (how content must be formulated), representation rules (e.g., capitalization rules), and allowed element values (e.g., from a controlled vocabulary) can be specified optionally. Some schemes also specify in which syntax the elements must be encoded, in contrast to syntax independent schemes. Many current schemes use Standard Generalized Markup Language

Standard Generalized Markup Language

The Standard Generalized Markup Language is an ISO-standard technology for defining generalized markup languages for documents...

 (SGML) or XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

 to specify their syntax. Metadata schemes that are developed and maintained by standard organizations (such as ISO

International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...

) or organizations that have taken on such responsibility (such as the Dublin Core

Dublin Core

The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...

 Metadata Initiative) are called metadata standards.

Many different metadata schemes are being developed as standards across disciplines, such as library science, education, archiving, e-commerce, and arts. In the table below, an overview of available metadata standards is given.

Name	Focus	Description
DDI	Archiving and Social Science	The Data Documentation Initiative Data Documentation Initiative The Data Documentation Initiative is an international project to create a standard for information describing statistical and social science data. Begun in 1995, the effort brings together data professionals from around the world to develop the standard. The DDI specification, written in XML,...  is an international effort to establish a standard for technical documentation describing social science data. A membership-based Alliance is developing the DDI specification, which is written in XML.
EAD	Archiving	Encoded Archival Description Encoded Archival Description Encoded Archival Description is an XML standard for encoding archival finding aids, maintained by the Library of Congress in partnership with the Society of American Archivists.-History:EAD originated in 1993, at the University of California, Berkeley...  - a standard for encoding archival finding aids using XML in archival and manuscript repositories.
CDWA	Arts	Categories for the Description of Works of Art Categories for the Description of Works of Art Categories for the Description of Works of Art describes the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images. The CDWA includes 512...  is a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, and other material culture.
VRA Core	Arts	Visual Resources Association Visual Resources Association The Visual Resources Association is an international organization for image media professionals,VRA was founded in 1982 by slide librarians who were members of the College Art Association , the South Eastern Art Conference , the Art Libraries Society of North America , and the Mid-America College...  – the standard provides a categorical organization for the description of works of visual culture as well as the images that document them.
Darwin Core	Biology	The Darwin Core Darwin Core Darwin Core is a body of data standards which function as an extension of Dublin Core for biodiversity informatics applications, establishing a vocabulary of terms to facilitate the discovery, retrieval, and integration of information about organisms, their spatiotemporal occurrence, and...  is a metadata specification for information about the geographic occurrence of species and the existence of specimens in collections.
ONIX	Book industry	Online Information Exchange - international standard for representing and communicating book industry product information in electronic form.
CWM	Data warehousing	The main purpose of the Common Warehouse Metamodel Common Warehouse Metamodel The Common Warehouse Metamodel defines a specification for modeling metadata for relational, non-relational, multi-dimensional, and most other objects found in a data warehousing environment...  is to enable easy interchange of warehouse and business intelligence metadata in distributed heterogeneous environments.
EML	Ecology	Ecological Metadata Language Ecological Metadata Language Ecological Metadata Language is a metadata standard developed by and for the ecology discipline. It is based on prior work done by the Ecological Society of America and others, including the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity. EML is a set of XML schema documents that allow for the structural...  is a specification developed for the ecology discipline.
IEEE LOM	Education	Learning Objects Metadata Learning object metadata Learning Object Metadata is a data model, usually encoded in XML, used to describe a learning object and similar digital resources used to support learning...  - specifies the syntax and semantics of Learning Object Metadata.
CSDGM	Geographic data	Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata maintained by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).
ISO 19115	Geographic data	The ISO 19115:2003 Geographic information -- Metadata standard defines how to describe geographical information and associated services, including contents, spatial-temporal purchases, data quality, access and rights to use. It is maintained by the ISO/TC 211 ISO/TC 211 ISO/TC 211 is a standard technical committee formed within ISO, tasked with covering the areas of digital geographic information and geomatics. It is responsible for preparation of a series of International Standards and Technical Specifications numbered in the range starting at 19101...  committee.
e-GMS	Government	The e-Government Metadata Standard (E-GMS) E-GMS The e-GMS is the UK e-Government Metadata Standard. It is an application profile of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set.The e-GMS defines how UK public sector bodies should label content such as web pages and documents in order to make such information more easily managed, found and shared.The...  defines the metadata elements for information resources to ensure maximum consistency of metadata across public sector organizations in the UK.
GILS	Government/ Organizations	The Global Information Locator Service defines an open, low-cost, and scalable standard so that governments, companies, or other organizations can help searchers find information.
TEI	Humanities, social sciences and linguistics	Text Encoding Initiative Text Encoding Initiative The Text Encoding Initiative is a text-centric community of practice in the academic field of digital humanities. The community runs a mailing list, meetings and conference series, and maintains a technical standard, a wiki and a toolset....  - a standard for the representation of texts in digital form, chiefly in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics.
NISO MIX	Images	Z39.87 Z39.87 - Z39.87 Data dictionary - Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images :ANSI/NISO Z39.87 is a standard which defines a set of metadata elements for raster digital images. The purpose is to help in the development, exchange and interpretation of digital images. The dictionary functions of this...  Data dictionary - technical metadata for digital still images (MIX) - NISO Metadata for Images in XML is an XML schema for a set of technical data elements required to manage digital image collections.
	Intellectual property	Indecs Content Model Indecs Content Model - indecs project : was a project part funded by the European Community Info 2000 initiative and by several organisations representing the music, rights, text publishing, authors, library and other sectors in 1998-2000, which has since been used in a number of metadata activities...  - Interoperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems addresses the need to put different creation identifiers and metadata into a framework to support the management of intellectual property rights.
MARC	Librarianship	MARC - MAchine Readable Cataloging MARC standards MARC, MAchine-Readable Cataloging, is a data format and set of related standards used by libraries to encode and share information about books and other material they collect...  - standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form.
METS	Librarianship	Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard METS The Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard is a metadata standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library, expressed using the XML schema language of the World Wide Web Consortium...  - an XML schema for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library.
MODS	Librarianship	Metadata Object Description Schema - is a schema for a bibliographic element set that may be used for a variety of purposes, and particularly for library applications.
XOBIS	Librarianship	XML Organic Bibliographic Information Schema - a XML schema for modeling MARC data.
PBCore	Media	PBCore PBCore The PBCore metadata standard was created by the public broadcasting community in the United States of America for use by public broadcasters and related communities. Initial development funding for PBCore was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...  is a Metadata & Cataloging Resource for Public Broadcasters & Associated Communities
MPEG-7	Multimedia	The Multimedia Content Description Interface MPEG-7 MPEG-7 MPEG-7 is a multimedia content description standard. It was standardized in ISO/IEC 15938 . This description will be associated with the content itself, to allow fast and efficient searching for material that is of interest to the user. MPEG-7 is formally called Multimedia Content Description...  is a ISO/IEC standard and specifies a set of descriptors to describe various types of multimedia information and is developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group.
MEI	Music notation	Music Encoding Initiative Music Encoding Initiative The Music Encoding Initiative is a community-driven effort to create a commonly accepted, digital, symbolic representation of music notation documents.-External links:* * * *...  is a community-driven effort to create a commonly-accepted, digital, symbolic representation of music notation documents.
Dublin Core	Networked resources	Dublin Core Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...  - interoperable online metadata standard focused on networked resources.
DOI	Networked resources	Digital Object Identifier Digital object identifier A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...  - provides a system for the identification and hence management of information ("content") on digital networks, providing persistence and semantic interoperability.
ISO/IEC 11179	Organizations	ISO/IEC 11179 ISO/IEC 11179 ISO/IEC 11179 is an international standard for representing metadata for an organization in a metadata registry.- Intended purpose :...  Standard that describes the metadata and activities needed to manage data elements in a registry to create a common understanding of data across organizational elements and between organizations.
ISO 23081	Records management	ISO 23081 - two-part technical specification defining metadata needed to manage records. Part 1 addresses principles, part 2 addresses conceptual and implementation issues.
http://moreq.info	Records management	MoReq2 MoReq2 MoReq2 is short for “Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records”, second version. It consists of a formal requirements specification for a generic electronic records management system, accompanied by testing documentation and related information... - A specification describing the MOdel REQuirements for the management of electronic records.
DIF	Scientific data sets	Directory Interchange Format - a descriptive and standardized format for exchanging information about scientific data sets.

Sources:

External links

• CHIN Guide to Museum Standards