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A Dublin Core Application Profile in the Agricultural DomainDC-2001International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2001 Tokyo, Japan - October 22-26, 2001

Irene Onyancha, Johannes Keizer, Stephen Katz

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
Library & Documentation Systems Division (GIL)
AGRIS/CARIS & FAO Documentation Group
Viale Delle Terme di Caracalla
Rome 00100, Italy

Irene.Onyancha@fao.org Johannes.Keizer@fao.org Stephen.Katz@fao.org

Abstract

This report outlines a proposed metadata framework for resource discovery of agricultural resources, and in particular to describe information resources in agricultural sciences. The overall work is the result of a collaborative effort between a number of partners in the agricultural community and the Library and Documentation Systems Division of FAO. The endeavour is formally referred to as the "Agricultural Metadata Standards Initiative" (Agstandards). It is based upon the elements and qualifiers proposed by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).

Keywords: Metadata, Interoperability, Standards, Dublin Core, Agricultural Information

1.0 Introduction

Resource description has emerged as a challenge that impedes resource discovery even though network technologies have lowered other challenges including geographical barriers. This is because resource discovery varies depending on the structure, type and content of resource and with the interests of the information keepers. Further, complex needs of users require domain specific information systems to be queried in parallel to enable access to distributed information archives. To meet such demands, there is a need for a framework that would allow information access regardless of the above-mentioned barriers. The Dublin core initiative is a potential example of such a format because of its characteristics that distinguish it as a prime candidate for resource description and primary resource discovery.

The report first provides the overall context for the metadata framework; why the standard is needed; how the work was done, and then offers thoughts on the way forward from here. Section 4 provides the elements and qualifiers of the proposed standard presented in a hierarchical structure. The hierarchical structure offers a flexible framework to implement the proposed standard at different levels of granularity, depending on the how rich each metadata source is. In its simplest form, metadata can even be supplied at the most general level of 13 core fields.

2.0 Objectives

The overall objective of the agricultural metadata framework is to define a low-barrier and richer interoperability layers using emerging standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of agricultural content. The metadata set consists of core elements and qualifiers that are generic to the description of all agricultural information resources.

The specific goals are:

To facilitate the discovery of agricultural information resources;
To assist the management of resources by the owners;
To enable interoperability between different metadata structures through a simple common format;
To develop a metadata framework that is compliant with other standards such as MARC, ISBD and new emerging ones like Dublin Core;
To encode the metadata framework using new tools such as Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

This in turn will greatly facilitate the exchange of information by:

Providing an overall metadata framework for better search capabilities on the internet
Offering a mechanism for interoperability between applications and
Supplying a potential means for automated processing of web resources

3.0 Strategy and Methodology Adopted

With respect to the strategy and methodology adopted to formulate the metadata framework, specific actions were taken to:

Develop a conceptual map of the different types of information resources used in agriculture.
Evaluate standards and common resource description practices currently used in the agricultural domain.
Initially focus on the description of information (bibliographic) resources.
Develop a specific application profile for description of resources.
Document a full element description for these resources using the set of attributes recommended by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.

As a result of adopting this strategy and methodology in a participatory manner with all partners of the Agricultural Metadata Standards Initiative, a list of 13 elements for agricultural resources description was proposed.

4.0 Metadata Element Set for the Description of Agricultural Information Resources

This section presents the proposed elements in a hierarchical structure. Preference is given to notation, vocabularies and terms that are currently used in describing agricultural resources. Full description of these elements can be viewed.

Introduction

1. The element Creator has been revised to represent all the agent elements namely, Creator, Contributor and Publisher

2. Some attributes of elements that have been in the past considered necessary in resource description are not included in this description of a specific resource because this information is currently not considered as primary information that is important for discovery of a particular resource. However to include this information which is also important for resource discovery at a secondary level, Authority files shall be created and linked to the metadata. Element that will have Authority files include: Author, Researcher, Corporate Author, Publisher and Type, qualifiers Event (Conferences, Workshops, Meetings)

The hierarchical notation presents the different levels of description, which is noted by the use of different formats and colours as indicated in the legend in the footnote.

I. Proposed core elements and the qualifiers for agricultural resources description 1. Core element: Creator (new)