JISCMail - DC-GENERAL Archives

I will try to give a quick answer to your questions:

Dublin Core is based on the Abstract model [1] which is quite abstract ;-).

There is however some useful guidance too [2].

In the usage guide [3] you will find an explanation of some important priciples. The first one has to do with your questions: The one-to-one principle demands that you describe only one resource:

"1. The One-to-One Principle. In general Dublin Core metadata describes one manifestation or version of a resource, rather than assuming that manifestations stand in for one another. For instance, a jpeg image of the Mona Lisa has much in common with the original painting, but it is not the same as the painting. As such the digital image should be described as itself, most likely with the creator of the digital image included as a Creator or Contributor, rather than just the painter of the original Mona Lisa. The relationship between the metadata for the original and the reproduction is part of the metadata description, and assists the user in determining whether he or she needs to go to the Louvre for the original, or whether his/her need can be met by a reproduction."

The metadata record is a resource in itself, so you should not mix

- the metadata of the phiscal photograph

- the metadata of the scan,

- the metadata of the metadata

into one description.

I don't know about how to add roles to a dcterm property, sorry. What you could do is define your own refinement of the dc-terms.

The difference between dcterms:created an dcterms:temporal is that the first refers to the date/time a resource was created and the latter to a period in time that the resource covers, or that the resource is about. So if you want to describe a book that was written in 2010 about the second world war, the dcterms:created = 2010 and dcterms:temporal is 1940-1945.

Dublin Core is a semantic standard and there is no DC-police. So in the end you can write your own Application Profile [4] in which you explain your rules for using metadata to describe your resources.

I need to record at least two specific contributor roles in a way consistent with Dublin Core, unfortunately I haven't found the solution as to how to call them nor how to input the credits.

First, the person responsible for implementing the DC structure within the system and therefore responsible for the DC-oriented metadata architecture being right or wrong (Maybe I would call this role "Metadata programmer").

Second, the person responsible for inputting the metadata for each digital object. I could call this "Metadata creator".

Now, how do I this?

<dc:contributor role="Metadata programmer">Momme, Sondra</dc:contributor>
<dc:contributor role="Metadata creator">Smith, John</dc:contributor>

...?

Same for the person who scanned a physical photograph...

<dc:contributor role="Scanner">Mills, Joe</dc:contributor>

Should that form be correct, had I better use natural language as in the examples or established codes such as

Data manager [dtm] or Programmer [prg] (which?) for the first one
Markup editor [mrk] for the second one
from
http://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/relaterm.html
?