Metadata and Te Kete Ipurangi
Discovering resources on the web
What is metadata?
To give New Zealand school communities the best possible chance of finding the resources they want via Te Kete Ipurangi, all resources have a
metadata record – a set of attributes or elements which describe a resource.
Metadata is simply data about data. A library catalogue has metadata about books and other items it holds, which includes information on author, title, date of publication, the subject it covers, and how to find it.
Metadata records
Te Kete Ipurangi has a repository of metadata records about useful online and offline resources that help teachers discover these resources
quickly and easily when they execute a search.
The Dublin Core initiative
A metadata record usually contains a number of elements that describe aspects of a resource. Metadata on Te Kete Ipurangi complies with the Dublin Core
element set, a simple but effective element set for describing a wide range of resources, including Internet resources.
Dublin Core consists of 15 basic elements which have been established through consensus by an international, cross-disciplinary group of professionals from librarianship, computer science, text encoding, the museum community, and other related fields of scholarship.
The original workshop of this international effort was held in Dublin, Ohio in 1995, hence the name Dublin Core. Although the initial focus of discussion was the describing of Internet resources, it was soon clear that there were advantages for using the same model for resource discovery across other media.
Consequently considerable attention has been given to making the Dublin Core standard flexible enough to represent resources (and relationships among resources) that are in digital and traditional formats.
Although numerous metadata standards exist, there are a number of advantages in using Dublin Core that have led to its adoption by Te Kete Ipurangi. These include Dublin Core's simplicity, the potential it offers for interoperability, its international acceptability, and the flexibility it provides for extensions to the basic elements to meet local needs.
The Dublin Core elements
Metadata describing resources on Te Kete Ipurangi takes into account the following aspects of a resource, although all of these may not be relevant for
every resource. They cover the content, intellectual property details, and instantiation (version) of the resource, in both Māori and English.
| Content | Intellectual property | Instantiation |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Creator | Date |
| Subject | Contributor | Format |
| Description | Publisher | Identifier |
| Type | Rights | Language |
| Source | ||
| Relation | ||
| Coverage | ||
Keywords assigned to the Subject element in each record are taken from Te Kete Ipurangi's controlled vocabulary list. This has been formed in consultation with New Zealand user groups and subject associations, and recognises the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework. The reference tool used in developing this vocabulary list is
Schools Catalogue Information Service SCIS Subject Headings (4th ed). Victoria, Australia, Curriculum Corporation 1999.
Guidelines on the use of the Dublin Core Metadata element set can be found at http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/. It should be noted that although this is the most recent version of the document, it is a Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Working Draft for review by Dublin Core Members and other interested parties. As a draft document it may be updated, replaced, or made obsolete by future developments.
Further information
Further information on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, the ongoing activities
of its Working Groups, Dublin Core in multiple languages, and available mailing
lists can be found via the Dublin Core Home Page at http://www.dublincore.org
Dublin Core New Zealand Special Interest Group
In February 2000, a group of Te Kete Ipurangi team members attended a weekend workshop of the international Dublin Core Education Working Group at
Kattemingga, near Melbourne. Representatives from Te Kete Ipurangi, The National Library of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Ministry of Education
joined attendees from the United States, Australia, and Japan to discuss and put forward proposals to the Dublin Core Advisory Committee on how the
Dublin Core metadata element set could best reflect the special requirements of the education sector.
This meeting led to the establishment of a Dublin Core Special Interest Group in Wellington, New Zealand by those from Wellington who attended the workshop. The group aims to provide on-going professional support to its members and to promote the development of metadata standards in New Zealand, particularly in the education sector.
Currently the group includes representatives from Te Kete Ipurangi, the Ministry of Education, National Library, NZCER, Land Transport Safety Authority, Specialist Education Services and New Zealand's e-government metadata project. The group is meeting bi-monthly and welcomes news of any metadata initiatives taking place, or of any indivduals or organisations in New Zealand with an interest in Dublin Core or other metadata standards.
For more information on the group, please contact Robyn White robyn@cwa.co.nz or phone (64 4) 801 0463.
Metadata and Australia
The TKI team is working closely on a number of metadata and technical standards initiatives with Australia. These activities will help us to
develop international operability standards which reflect both our culture and our approach to teaching and learning in New Zealand.