First draft, 2002-05-06
Pete Johnston, UKOLN
The Metadata for Education Group (MEG) offers an open forum for debating the description and provision of educational resources at all levels across the UK. The educational community have adopted or developed a number of metadata element sets or vocabularies for the description of such resources. The descriptions or definitions of these element sets are made available in machine-processable form as schemas. [1] The purpose of the registry is to provide a publication environment in which the developers and implementers of education-related metadata schemas can disclose information on schemas and on their use.
The registry is more than a "dictionary" of the terms described by schemas: fundamental to the registry is the recognition that implementers deploy and adapt "standard" element sets in a pragmatic way. While "standard" schemas are widely available, these use-oriented adaptations, which are often localised and service-specific, tend to be less visible. Researchers on schema usage have introduced the idea of the "application profile" as a means of capturing this information on adaptations and constraints of element set usage. [2]
Such differentiation in the use of schemas brings a cost in terms of interoperability between systems that deploy them, and unnecessary variation should be avoided where possible. Making such variation visible
Users of the registry might include:
The registry will provide access to information on [3]
This information is stored and made available in machine-processable form as schemas. The W3C Resource Description Framework (RDF) recommendation provides a general data model for expressing statements about resources, and an associated XML syntax for serialising descriptions constructed using the model. As far as possible, the information above should be expressed using "standard" (or at least widely understood) semantic vocabularies, such as RDF Schema and the element sets of the DCMI. It is recognised, however, that some information used by the registry will require the use of additional vocabularies.
One of the limitations of the current MEG registry prototype is the absence of an interface to allow the owners/maintainers of schemas to manage the relevant entries within the registry. The proposed registry should allow for this information to be created and managed in a distributed form, so that its owners/maintainers can control the content which is indexed by the registry.
The registry is not a "closed" system. The owners of some of the element sets in use by this community have already made them available on the Web in a standard machine-processable form; the registry should reuse those schemas where possible. In other cases, the owners of element sets will need to create schemas for their element sets and application profiles in order to submit them to the registry. It should be possible for the schema creators to store a copy of that schema, serialised in a form compatible with Web metadata standards, which they can make available - independently of the MEG registry - for reuse by other applications, which may include other metadata schema registries.
The primary user community for the registry system is the membership of the Metadata for Education Group, and the broader community working with metadata schemas for the description of educational resources. This document has been drafted with the interests of those communities in mind. However, it is hoped that these tools will be of interest to a larger community of schema researchers, developers and implementers, and it would be valuable if, during development, consideration could be given to the potential for the reuse and re-purposing of the tools by this broader community.
The registry system has been separated into two components:
Clearly the schema creation/registration tool will need to exchange data with the registry to perform these functions. If those interfaces to the registry can be created in standardised forms and supporting documentation provided, that would enhance the possibility for the reuse of these tools and for their interoperability with other tools developed independently.
Users of the registry will include:
The registry should:
The "source" schemas may be distributed at various locations on the Web, and the registry must provide support for re-reading and re-indexing any of those descriptions as they are updated by their owners. Those owners may update their schemas using the schema creation and registration tool, or they may do so using their own maintenance procedures which result in the output of an RDF/XML instance accessible on the Web which can then be submitted to the registry.
This devolved model may require some form of basic authentication/authorisation mechanism to ensure that the maintainers of this information can edit only those units of information in the registry which they "own". This move to a devolved model also introduces the question of establishing and assessing levels of "trust" in the information content presented by the registry. Sufficient "administrative metadata" should be recorded and made available so that a user browsing this information can see by whom assertions were made, and when. [At what level of "granularity"? Probably the schema?]
The schemas contain descriptions of instances of various classes of resource (element sets, terms, term usages etc). Specific types of relationship exist between instances of these different classes of resource. The interface through which human readers of the registry access this information should make these relationships clear to the reader and should allow them to navigate those relationships, for example, via hypertext links. In displaying information about resources, the registry should apply appropriate "labels" in preference to displaying URIs of properties or resource classes. Further details of the requirements for the user interface are provided in sections 5 and 6.
Users of the schema creation/registration tool will include:
The schema creation/registration tool should allow a human user
The user interface to this tool should allow the user to focus on the structure and semantics of the descriptions they are managing; as far as possible, it should insulate them from the syntax of the machine-readable forms of those descriptions. As in the case of the registry interface, the "labels" of properties and classes should be displayed in preference to their URIs wherever possible. Further, many schema creators within MEG have a limited familiarity with the concepts and terminology used in association with the RDF model, and it will be important to provide interfaces which take that limitation into account. A "view" of an "element set" as a table of "elements/terms" may be more intuitive than a graphical representation based on nodes and arcs, for example. Ideally the tool would provide the flexibility to render different views for different groups of user.
In constructing an "application profile", a core part of the task is to establish relationships to existing descriptions of resources within the registry e.g. a profile "uses" terms from existing element sets and may associate them with existing encoding schemes. In such cases, the interface should allow the user to do so in a manner which is intuitive and simple to use, but which maintains the integrity of relationships between resources. e.g. the tool might present views of the appropriate resources available within the registry, from which the user can select the relevant items.
As noted above, the registry is not a closed system, and the schema creation and registration tool should permit a user to store their descriptions as RDF/XML documents so that they might be used for purposes other than submission to the registry.
A UK organisation provides a resource discovery service for Web-based educational materials. That service utilises a simple metadata schema developed specifically for that purpose. The organisation wishes to publish this information to the MEG community via the registry.
To publish requires the following steps. The element set publisher:
A UK organisation provides a resource discovery service for Web-based educational materials. That service utilises a simple metadata schema developed specifically for that purpose. The schema uses a number of terms drawn from the cross-domain element sets of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative; a domain-specific term which was created by another portal service for their own schema; and a number of new terms specific to this service. The organisation has developed a number of controlled vocabularies for several of the terms in this schema; the service also specifies the use of some standardised forms for dates and identifiers within metadata instances. The organisation wishes to publish this information to the MEG community via the registry.
In the terms of the registry data model, this organisation's schema is an application profile. To publish requires the following steps. The application profile publisher:
An international standards body makes schema for their cross-domain element set available in RDF/XML on their Web server. Various MEG members wish to "use" terms from the element set in their application profiles.
Either the representative of standards body or the registry administrator:
A schema developer wishes to survey the usage of the DCMI "audience" element, and particularly the use of any controlled vocabularies to control values of this element.
The developer
A graphical outline of the classes of resource described and the relationships between instances is provided below. This section outlines the attributes/properties of instances of these classes. It is based on the data model for the Desire registry [4] and also draws on the work of the Schemas project in exploring approaches based on RDF Schema [5]. In particular, it adopts the recommendation of Baker et al that "Term Usages" should be modeled as resources in their own right. [6]
An Application Profile defines a set of Term Usages of Elements/Terms drawn from one or more Element Sets. Such a Term Usage may:
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Agency | The name or title of the Agency | |
Agency URL? Agency home page? |
The URL of a document which provides more information about the Agency, typically an organisational "home page". |
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Element Set | The name or title of the Element Set | |
Version | The version of the Element Set. | |
Creation date | Date this version created | |
Status | Status of Element Set. | |
Description | Description of Element Set, including any notes of scope/purpose. | |
Classification | Classification of use of this Element Set | |
Agency | Publisher of Element Set | Pointer to resource of type Agency |
Namespace name/URI | XML Namespace name/URI associated with this Element Set | |
??Namespace prefix | ??Prefix to be used in instances using this Element Set | |
Specification | URL of prose description of/guidelines for use of Element Set |
Format? Type? Language?
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Element/Term | A human-readable version of the property name | |
Definition | A statement that clearly represents the concept and essential nature of the term | |
Comment | A remark concerning the application/use of the data element | |
Data type | Indicates the type of data that can be represented in the value of the data element | |
Obligation | Indicates whether the Element/Term is always or sometimes required to be present | |
Maximum occurrence | Indicates any limit to the repeatability of the Element/Term | |
Encoding Scheme | An Encoding Scheme which specifies constraints on the value of this element/term | Repeatable. Pointer to resource of type Encoding Scheme |
Refines | An Element/Term of which this Element/Term is a "refinement" [DC] | Pointer to resource of type rdf:Property |
Element Set | An Element Set of which this Element/Term is part | Pointer to resource of type Element Set |
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Encoding Scheme | The name or title of the Encoding Scheme | |
Version | The version of the Encoding Scheme. | |
Creation date | Date this version created | |
Status | Status of Encoding Scheme. | |
Description | Description of Encoding Scheme, including any notes of scope/purpose. | |
Classification | Classification of use of this Encoding Scheme | |
Agency | Publisher of Encoding Scheme | Pointer to resource of type Agency |
Specification | URL of prose description of/guidelines for use of Encoding Scheme |
An encoding scheme is a rdfs:Class. Values are instances of resources of that Class.
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Value | The value of a term in an encoding scheme | |
Label | The human-readable form of the value of a term in an encoding scheme | |
Description | A statement that clearly represents the concept and essential nature of the term |
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Application Profile | The name or title of the Application Profile | |
Version | The version of the Application Profile. | |
Creation date | Date this version created | |
Status | Status of Application Profile. | |
Description | Description of Application Profile, including any notes of scope/purpose. | |
Classification | Classification of use of this Application Profile | |
Agency | Publisher of Application Profile | Pointer to resource of type Agency |
URL of XML Schema | XML Schema associated with this application profile | |
Specification | URL of prose description of/guidelines for use of Application Profile |
Format? Type? Language?
Label | Comments | |
---|---|---|
Identifier | ||
Name of Term Usage | A human-readable version of the property name | |
Definition | A statement that clearly represents the concept and essential nature of the term | |
Comment | A remark concerning the application/use of the data element | |
Data type | Indicates the type of data that can be represented in the value of the data element | |
Obligation | Indicates whether the Element/Term is always or sometimes required to be present | |
Maximum occurrence | Indicates any limit to the repeatability of the Element/Term | |
Encoding Scheme | An Encoding Scheme which specifies constraints on the value of this Element/Term | Repeatable. Pointer to resource of type Encoding Scheme |
Application Profile | An Application Profile of which this Term Usage is part | Pointer to resource of type Application Profile |
The user interface to the registry should allow a user to browse lists of instances of the principal resource classes:
There is no requirement to browse Values within Encoding Schemes.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all agencies, sorted by name. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the agency.
A full display of the properties of the Agency:
In addition,
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element set, application profile or encoding scheme.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all element sets, sorted by name. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element set.
A full display of the properties of the Element Set:
In addition,
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element/term.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all elements/terms, sorted by name. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element/term.
A full display of the properties of the element/term:
In addition,
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element refinement (an element/term), encoding scheme, or term usage.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all encoding schemes, sorted by name. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the encoding scheme.
A full display of the properties of the encoding scheme:
In addition,
From any entry in the latter two tables, the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the element/term or term usage.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all application profiles, sorted by name. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the application profile.
A full display of the properties of the application profile:
In addition,
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the term usage.
A table/list of summary descriptions of all term usages, sorted by name of element/term. Each entry should display the properties:
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the term usage.
A full display of the properties of the term usage:
In addition,
From any entry the user should be able to navigate to a detailed description for the encoding scheme.
The user interface to the registry should allow a user to search descriptions of instances of the principal resource classes. Suggested searches are:
Result sets should be returned as summary lists as described in the browse operations above.
The tool should allow a user to create, maintain and remove resource descriptions which they own.
[Are there questions of integrity here? What happens if I remove an element/term from my element set and others have reused that element/term in their application profiles? Permit and allow references to break or prevent?]
[1] The SCHEMAS Forum : A Retrospective Glossary
HTML: http://www.schemas-forum.org/info-services/d74.htm
[2] Heery, Rachel & Manjula Patel, Application Profiles: mixing and matching metadata schemas Ariadne 25. Sept 2000.
HTML: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue25/app-profiles/
[3] This is a subset of the information managed within the current prototype MEG registry, which uses the model developed by the DESIRE project. The model suggested here excludes support for the capacity to group element sets by "Namespace Concept" and for the capacity to describe "Value Components" for an encoding scheme.
[4] Heery, Rachel, Tracy Gardner, Michael Day & Manjula Patel, DESIRE metadata registry framework
HTML: http://www.desire.org/html/research/deliverables/D3.5/
[5] The SCHEMAS Forum Registry : sample RDF encodings of Application Profiles
HTML: http://www.schemas-forum.org/registry/schemas/
[6] Baker, Thomas, Makx Dekkers, Rachel Heery, Manjula Patel and Gauri Salokhe, What terms does your metadata use? Application profiles as machine-understandable narratives, Journal of Digital Information Volume 2 Issue 2 (Nov 2001)
HTML: http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Articles/v02/i02/Baker/