Message Summary: This message is a solicitation for input about Dublin Core
qualifiers. It outlines objectives, procedures and deadlines for
participating in the discussion of qualifiers that will culminate at the
DC-7 Workshop in Frankfurt in October.
With the Revisions of the DC 1.1 definitions nearing completion, it is time
to move forward with the issues of qualification of elements. This process
will take place in two steps:
1. Identification of qualifiers now in use among existing implementations of
DC.
A. Implementors are asked to send lists of qualifiers and explanatory
information in use in their applications to the element-specific Working
Groups (see end of message for the list). Others may want to propose
qualifiers as well, but keep in mind that we are looking for the common set
that will satisfy general, cross-domain requirements, not the list of every
possible qualifier for every possible domain requirement. If a qualifier
has not appeared in a Dublin Core application to date, it may indicate that
it is of limited general interest.
B. Qualifiers include encoding schemes, externally-maintained controlled
vocabularies or thesauri, enumerated lists of values, and subelements (roles
or types).
C. This initial period of collection should focus on identification of
qualifiers in use, NOT discussion of their merits.
D. Deadline: July 31, 1999
2. Debate of proposed qualifiers
A. Working Group Chairs will consolidate a candidate list of qualifiers
for each element, and this list will be discussed, pared down as
appropriate, and submitted to the Dublin Core Advisory Committee for
ratification.
B. A limited number of general purpose qualifiers will be proposed as
DC-sanctioned qualifiers, managed within the DC namespace and which will
comprise the recommended default set for use when there are no
community-specific qualifiers for a given application. Examples might
include a list of Date types that cover most needs, a generic Relation
types, or an encoding scheme such as ISO 8601.
C. A list of formal external schemes will be identified as well, as
examples of appropriate qualification strategies. Examples might include an
a classification scheme (Dewey, LCSH, AAT), or a name authority structure
(vCard, LCNA, Interested Party File). The idea is to point, as much as
possible, to existing schemes that capitalize on the expertise of the
particular communities in which they were developed.
D. Deadline: Draft Proposal by October for discussion at DC-7
DC Element Specific Working Groups:
The following DC Working groups are charged with identifying qualifiers
associated with each of the 15 elements; some groups encompass more than a
single element.
All Dublin Core Working Group mailing lists are maintained at the Mailbase
Server in the UK (www.mailbase.ac.uk). It is expected that advocates of a
particular qualifier will join the approriate Working Group and participate
in the discussion of that qualifier.
dc-agents (Creator, Contributor, Publisher)
dc-coverage
dc-date
dc-format
dc-relation (Source, Relation)
dc-subdesc (Subjet, Description, Language)
dc-title (Title, Identifier)
dc-type
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