ASIS&T
Since 2013, DCMI functions as a project of The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) according to a formal agreement.
The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) was founded on 13 March 1937 and operates today as a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in the US. As information and communication technology applications proliferate and encroach ever more on the daily lives of nearly all in the developed world, ASIS&T members are at the forefront in examining the technical bases, social consequences, and theoretical understanding of online databases, widespread use of databases in government, industry, and education, and the development of the Internet and World Wide Web. In 2000, the Society changed its name to American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), reflecting the range of its members. In 2013, the Society changed its name to the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) to reflect its growing international membership.
In addition to development of meetings and conferences throughout the world, ASIS&T publishes:
Reshaping DCMI
On 30 June 2013, DCMI Ltd. ceased operations as a company limited by guarantee in Singapore and becomes a project of ASIS&T—the Association for Information Science and Technology. This change from independent, non-profit company status in Singapore to a partnership with ASIS&T marks a significant milestone in DCMI's history. The decision to restructure was motivated by the desire of DCMI's governing Oversight Committee to shape a more dynamic and responsive institutional structure, while retaining its mission, goals and objectives and its commitments to an open, consensus-driven community.
The change in institutional structure was guided by extensive investigations by the Oversight Committee into alternative institutional structures and potential partnerships that might better serve DCMI's global community of metadata researchers and practitioners.
The new partnership between DCMI and ASIS&T may be characterized as follows:
- ASIS&T provides an institutional "umbrella" for DCMI activities through provision of core institutional services (e.g., financial and legal);
- Fiscal arrangements between ASIS&T and DCMI are based on both services rendered by ASIS&T to DCMI and on related costs and mutual partner benefits;
- DCMI maintains its autonomy as a global community through maintenance of the DCMI "brand" and its programmatic commitments and membership programs; and
- DCMI maintains semi-autonomous governance within the institutional structure of ASIS&T and DCMI bylaws.
In addition to meeting these core objectives, DCMI and ASIS&T are committed in the coming months and years to seek out joint activities where both organizations can leverage their strengths to the benefit of both communities. Both DCMI and ASIS&T bring to the new partnership their histories as strong, successful organizations serving research and practice communities.
Under the new partnership, DCMI continues its commitment to the following principles of operation:
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Open consensus building: Participation
in the DCMI community is open to all interested groups or individuals with expertise or interests in metadata. DCMI de facto standards, specifications and best practice documents reflect consensus arrived at through consultative debate and review. No fees are assessed for use of such information, inasmuch as the value of such materials is enhanced by their wide adoption. -
International scope and participation: DCMI arose in the 1990s from an informal workshop series that attracted participation of a world-wide community. DCMI has been committed from the start to global participation, as exemplified by a wide array of translations, the location of Dublin Core™ conferences and regional meetings, and the diversity of regional representation among the DCMI Members and in the Oversight Committee and Advisory Board.
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Neutrality of purposes and business models: DCMI is neutral as to the purposes for which DCMI de facto metadata standards and specifications might be used. DCMI encourages the adoption of these standards and specifications in the public and private sectors and in further de jure standardization that does not jeopardize open access.
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Neutrality of technology: DCMI de facto standards are fundamentally concerned with semantics—the meaning of assertions about information resources. The technological infrastructure underpinning the encoding and expression of these semantics is expected to evolve with time. DCMI attempts to maintain independence of agreed-upon semantics, and to facilitate the expression of these semantics in encoding idioms appropriate to the active stakeholders of the initiative.
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Cross disciplinary focus: Since its early days in the mid-1990s, DCMI's founding principle has been the discovery and management of resources through metadata across the boundaries of information silos on the Web and within intranets.