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Expressing Dublin Core™ Description Sets using XML (DC-DS-XML)

Creators: Pete Johnston
Eduserv Foundation, UK
Andy Powell
Eduserv Foundation, UK
Date Issued: 2008-09-01
Latest Version: https://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-ds-xml/
Release History: https://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-ds-xml/release_history/
Description: This document specifies an XML format for representing a Dublin Core metadata description set. It supports all the features of the description set described by the DCMI Abstract Model. The XML format is known as DC-DS-XML.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The DCMI Abstract Model and DC-DS-XML
  3. Features of the DC-DS-XML Syntax
  4. The DC-DS-XML Syntax
  5. Appendix A. DC-TEXT Representation of Examples
  6. Appendix B. RDF/XML Representation of Examples
  7. Notes
  8. References
  9. Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

This document specifies an XML format for representing a DC metadata description set. The XML format is known as "DC-DS-XML". (The "DS" is intended as an abbreviation for description set.)

The "Description Set Model" of the DCMI Abstract Model [ABSTRACT-MODEL] describes the constructs that make up a DC metadata description set. In order to represent a DC metadata description set in an XML document those constructs have to be represented as components in that XML document, i.e. as XML elements and XML attributes, XML element names and XML attribute names, and as XML element content and XML attribute values.

1.1 Design Considerations

The DC-DS-XML format described in this document was developed using the following design considerations:

  • The format should provide a serialisation of all the features of the "Description Set Model" of the Abstract Model, i.e. it should be possible to represent all the constructs that make up a DC metadata description set. (See Note 1).

  • The format is not required to address the features of the "Vocabulary Model" of the Abstract Model. For example, it is not required to express subproperty relationships between properties, subclass relationships between classes, etc.

  • The format should be easily usable with XML-based specifications such as XPath, XPointer and XQuery, i.e. for each construct in the Abstract Model there should be a mapping to exactly one construct in the XML syntax.

  • The format should not be dependent on features of a single XML Schema language.

  • It should be possible to describe the format using W3C XML Schema [XMLSCHEMA], but it is not a requirement that when the format is used to serialise _description sets_conforming to a DC Application Profile [DCAP], all the structural constraints expressed in the corresponding Description Set Profile [DSP] are captured using W3C XML Schema.

1.2 DC-DS-XML and GRDDL

The W3C Recommendation Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages [GRDDL] describes a set of conventions for associating an XML document with an algorithm for the extraction of a set of RDF triples from that document. One of the mechanisms defined by GRDDL is the association of a Namespace Transformation with an XML namespace.

A GRDDL Namespace Transformation is provided for the XML Namespace associated with the DC-DS-XML format. That transformation generates RDF graphs compatible with the recommendations of the DCMI Recommendation Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) [DC-RDF].

2. The DCMI Abstract Model and DC-DS-XML

According to the "Description Set Model" of the DCMI Abstract Model [ABSTRACT-MODEL], a DC description set has the following structure:

  • a description set is made up of one or more descriptions

  • a description is made up of

    • zero or one described resource URI and

    • one or more statements

  • a statement is made up of

    • exactly one property URI and

    • exactly one value surrogate

  • a value surrogate is either a literal value surrogate or a non-literal value surrogate

    • a literal value surrogate is made up of

      • exactly one value string

    • a non-literal value surrogate is made up of

      • zero or one value URIs

      • zero or one vocabulary encoding scheme URIs

      • zero or more value strings

  • a value string is either a plain value string or a typed value string

    • a plain value string may be associated with a value string language

    • a typed value string is associated with a syntax encoding scheme URI

  • a non-literal value may be described by another description

The DC-DS-XML format described in this document implements all the features of the DCAM "description set model".

3. Features of the DC-DS-XML Syntax

3.1 URIs in DC-DS-XML

The Abstract Model uses Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) [RFC3986] to refer both to the resources described and to metadata terms (properties, classes,vocabulary encoding schemes and syntax encoding schemes).

In DC-DS-XML, URIs are encoded as URI references, used as XML attribute values. A URI reference is either a URI or a relative reference [RFC3986]. Later sections of this document describe the use of those different XML attributes in detail. The purpose of this section is to make some general points about the representation of these URIs in DC-DS-XML.

The URI may be represented in full. The following example shows a URI as the value of the dcds:propertyURI attribute:

XML Example 1: URI as attribute value

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description>
                                 <!-- Property URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

The representation of the URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference as follows, for example:

XML Example 2: URI as attribute value (with XML entity reference)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE dcds:descriptionSet [
  <!ENTITY dcterms 'http://purl.org/dc/terms/'>
]>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description>
                                 <!-- Property URI using XML entity reference -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="&dcterms;title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

For all of the attributes in DC-DS-XML which have URIs as values, the value may also be a relative reference. The relative reference is resolved relative to a base URI, obtained either from the value of an xml:base attribute or from the URI of the document itself. In the following example, the value of the dcds:propertyURI attribute is a relative reference. It is resolved relative to the base URI provided by the xml:base attribute to obtain a target URI of http://purl.org/dc/terms/title:

XML Example 3: Relative reference as attribute value

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xml:base="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description>
                                 <!-- Property URI as relative reference -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

4. The DC-DS-XML Syntax

4.1 Encoding a Description Set: The Description Set Element

A description set is a set of one or more descriptions.

In DC-DS-XML, a description set is represented by an XML element known as a Description Set Element (See Note 2). A DC-DS-XML instance represents a single DC description set, so has exactly one Description Set Element.

A Description Set Element has an expanded name (XML Namespace Name/local name pair) with the XML Namespace Name http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/ and local name descriptionSet.

In the examples presented in this document, the XML Namespace Name http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/is always associated with the prefix "dcds". For convenience, after this point, the names of XML elements and XML attributes are presented in the text as XML QNames (e.g. dcds:descriptionSet, dcds:resourceURI), rather than as expanded names, but the prefix used is not significant.

XML Example 4: the Description Set Element

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
       <!-- Description Set Element -->
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

The Description Set Element must contain one or more Description Elements.

4.2 Encoding a Description: The Description Element

A description is a set of one or more statements about a resource.

In DC-DS-XML, a description is represented by an XML element known as a Description Element. A Description Element is a child element of a Description Set Element and has the name dcds:description.

The following example shows a description set consisting of a single description:

XML Example 5: the Description Element

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
                                    <!-- Description Element -->
  <dcds:description>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

A description set may contain multiple descriptions.

In DC-DS-XML, each description is represented by a separate Description Element. The order of the Description Elements within a Description Set Element is not significant.

The following example shows a description set consisting of two descriptions:

XML Example 6: Multiple Description Elements

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
                                    <!-- 1st Description Element -->
  <dcds:description>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>

                                    <!-- 2nd Description Element -->
  <dcds:description>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>UKOLN Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

The encoding of description sets with multiple descriptions is described further in Section 4.6.

A Description Element may have a Described Resource URI attribute and must contain one or more Statement Elements.

4.2.1 The

Described Resource URI

A description may have an associated described resource URI.

In DC-DS-XML, a described resource URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. The attribute has the name dcds:resourceURI.

The examples below show a description with the described resource URI http://dublincore.org/pages/home.

XML Example 7: The Resource URI Attribute

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
                            <!-- described resource URI -->
  <dcds:description dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

Note that the representation of the described resource URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference or a URI relative reference (see the section on URIs in DC-DS-XML).

4.3 Encoding a Statement: The Statement Element

A description is made up of one or more statements.

In DC-DS-XML, each child XML element of a Description Element represents a single statement and is known as a Statement Element. A Statement Element always has the name dcds:statement.

The following example shows a description set with a single description consisting of a single statement:

XML Example 8: A Statement Element

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
                                    <!-- Statement Element -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

A description may be made up of multiple statements.

In DC-DS-XML, each statement is represented by a separate Statement Element. The order of the Statement Elements within a Description Element is not significant.

The following example shows a description consisting of two statements:

XML Example 9: Multiple Statement Elements

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
                                    <!-- Statement Element -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
                                    <!-- Statement Element -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

A Statement Element must have a Property URI attribute, it may have various other attributes and it may contain zero or more Value String Elements.

4.3.1 The Property URI Attribute

A statement must contain exactly one property URI.

In DC-DS-XML, a property URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. The attribute has the name dcds:propertyURI.

The examples below show a description consisting of two statements where the property URIs are http://purl.org/dc/terms/title and http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher.

XML Example 10: The Property URI Attribute

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
                                    <!-- property URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
                                    <!-- property URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>

  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

Note that the representation of the property URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference or a URI relative reference (see the section on URIs in DC-DS-XML).

4.4 Encoding a Value Surrogate

A statement contains exactly one value surrogate.

A value surrogate is either a literal value surrogate or a non-literal value surrogate.

4.4.1 Encoding a Literal Value Surrogate

A literal value surrogate is made up of exactly one value string.

Note that a literal value surrogate can not contain a value URI or a vocabulary encoding scheme URI.

4.4.1.1 The Literal Surrogate Value String Element

In DC-DS-XML, a value string within a literal value surrogate is represented by an XML element known as a Value String Element. A Value String Element is a child element of a Statement Element and, for the case of the literal value surrogate, the Value String Element has the name dcds:literalValueString. For the case of the literal value surrogate, a Statement Element must contain exactly one Value String Element with the name dcds:literalValueString. It is an error for a Statement Element to contain multiple Value String Elements with the name dcds:literalValueString.

The example below shows a description consisting of a single statement which includes a literal value surrogate (with a value string).

XML Example 11:The Value String Element (Literal Value Surrogate)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://my.example.org/terms/name">
      <!-- value string in literal value surrogate -->
      <dcds:literalValueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

For more details on representing value strings, see the section on Value String Elements.

4.4.2 Encoding a Non-Literal Value Surrogate

A non-literal value surrogate is made up of

  • zero or one value URIs

  • zero or one vocabulary encoding scheme URIs

  • zero or more value strings

4.4.2.1 The Value URI Attribute

A non-literal value surrogate may contain a value URI.

In DC-DS-XML, a value URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. The attribute has the name dcds:valueURI.

The examples below show a description consisting of two statements where the second statement includes a non-literal value surrogate with the value URI http://example.org/agents/DCMI.

XML Example 12: The Value URI Attribute

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI"> <!-- value URI -->
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>

</dcds:descriptionSet>

Note that the representation of the value URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference or a URI relative reference (see the section on URIs in DC-DS-XML).

4.4.2.2 The Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

A non-literal value surrogate may contain a vocabulary encoding scheme URI.

In DC-DS-XML, a vocabulary encoding scheme URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. The attribute has the name dcds:vesURI.

The examples below show a description consisting of three statements where the third statement includes a non-literal value surrogate with the vocabulary encoding scheme URI http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH.

XML Example 13: The Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
                <!-- vocabulary encoding scheme URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject"
                   dcds:vesURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <dcds:valueString>Metadata</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

Note that the representation of the vocabulary encoding scheme URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference or a URI relative reference (see the section on URIs in DC-DS-XML).

4.4.1.3 The Non-Literal Surrogate Value String Element

A non-literal value surrogate may contain multiple value strings.

In DC-DS-XML, a value string within a non-literal value surrogate is represented by an XML element known as a Value String Element. A Value String Element is a child element of a Statement Element and, for the case of the non-literal value surrogate, the Value String Element has the name dcds:valueString.

The presence of a value string in a non-literal value surrogate within a statement is optional. If no value string is present, in DC-DS-XML, the Statement Element is empty.

The example below shows a description consisting of four statements where the fourth statement includes a non-literal value surrogate with a value URI but no value string.

XML Example 14: Empty Statement Element

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject"
                   dcds:vesURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <dcds:valueString>Metadata</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <!-- statement with no value string -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

The example below shows a description consisting of four statements where the second and third statements each include a non-literal value surrogate containing a value string.

XML Example 15: The Value String Element (Non-Literal Value Surrogate)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <!-- non-literal value surrogate - value string -->
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject"
                   dcds:vesURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <!-- non-literal value surrogate - value string -->
      <dcds:valueString>Metadata</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

A non-literal value surrogate may contain multiple value strings.

So in DC-XML, a Statement Element representing a statement with a non-literal value surrogate may contain multiple Value String Elements. The order of the Value String Elements within a Statement Element is not significant.

The following example shows a description in which the third statement includes a non-literal value surrogate containing two value strings:

XML Example 16: Multiple Value String Elements (Non-Literal Value Surrogate)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>

    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject"
                   dcds:vesURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <!-- non-literal value surrogate - multiple value strings -->
      <dcds:valueString>Metadata</dcds:valueString>
      <dcds:valueString>Métadonnées</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/isPartOf"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

For more details on representing value strings, see the section on Value String Elements.

4.5 Encoding a Value String: The Value String Element

A value string may occur within either a literal value surrogate or a non-literal value surrogate. A literal value surrogate must contain exactly one value string. A non-literal value surrogate may contain multiple value strings.

In DC-DS-XML, a value string within a value surrogate is represented by an XML element known as a Value String Element. A Value String Element is a child element of a Statement Element.

For the case of the literal value surrogate, the Value String Element has the name dcds:literalValueString (see the section The Literal Surrogate Value String.

For the case of the non-literal value surrogate, the Value String Element has the name dcds:valueString (see the section The Non-Literal Surrogate Value String).

A value string is either a plain value string or a typed value string.

4.5.1 Encoding a Plain Value String

4.5.1.1 The Value String Language Attribute

A plain value string may be associated with a value string language.

In DC-DS-XML, a value string language is represented by an xml:lang attribute of the Value String Element. The values of the attribute are language identifiers as defined by IETF RFC 4646 RFC 4646 (or its successor).

The example below shows a description consisting of three statements where the first statement has a literal value surrogate containing a plain value string "DCMI Home Page" associated with the value string language "en-GB" :

XML Example 17: The Value String Language

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <!-- value string language -->
      <dcds:literalValueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/date">
      <dcds:literalValueString>2005-05-05</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

4.5.2 Encoding a Typed Value String

4.5.2.1. The Syntax Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

A typed value string is associated with a syntax encoding scheme URI.

In DC-DS-XML, a syntax encoding scheme URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Value String Element. The attribute has the name dcds:sesURI.

The examples below show a description consisting of three statements where the third statement has a literal value surrogate containing a typed value string with the syntax encoding scheme URI http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date:

XML Example 18: The Syntax Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcds:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/date">
                       <!-- syntax encoding scheme URI -->
      <dcds:literalValueString dcds:sesURI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date">2005-05-05</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

Note that the representation of the syntax encoding scheme URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference or a URI relative reference (see the section on URIs in DC-DS-XML).

4.5.2.2. XML data as a Typed Value String

A typed value string may be an XML fragment, in which case it must be associated with the syntax encoding scheme URI http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#XMLLiteral

The example below shows a description consisting of two statements where the second statement contains a literal value surrogate which includes a typed value string in the form of an XML fragment:

XML Example 19: XML Data as Typed Value String

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/description">
         <!-- XML data as value string -->
      <dcds:literalValueString dcds:sesURI="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#XMLLiteral">
        <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
          <p>The DCMI home page provides an overview of the content of the
          <a title="DCMI Web Site" href="/">DCMI Web
          site</a>. It also displays current news items.</p>
        </div>
      </dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

4.6 Encoding Descriptions of Values

As noted in the section on Encoding a Description, description sets may contain multiple descriptions. Each description is represented by a separate Description Element. The order of the Description Elements has no significance.

It may be that the described resource of a description is referred to as the value of a statement in another description within the description set. If that resource has been assigned a URI, then that URI appears as the value URI in the statement where the resource is the value and as a described resource URI in the description of that resource, as shown below:

XML Example 20: Non-Literal Value as Described Resource

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
                                <!-- value URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </dcds:description>
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/althome">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:valueString>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
                                <!-- value URI -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </dcds:description>
                     <!-- value URI used as resource URI in description of value -->
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://my.example.org/terms/name">
      <dcds:literalValueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

In some cases the resource will not have a URI assigned, or the URI will not be known. Such a resource may still be a value in a statement in one description and the described resource of another description in the same description set.

In such cases, the association between the statement in the first description and the second description is made by using an identifier for the resource which is local to a DC-DS-XML instance. This local identifier is used as the value of a dcds:valueRef XML attribute of one or more Statement Elements and as the value of a dcds:resourceId XML attribute of a Description Element. Each value of a dcds:valueRef XML attribute must match the value of a dcds:resourceId attribute in the same DC-DS-XML instance.

Note that this is a syntactic mechanism for linking references to values in statements to the descriptions of those values: the local identifier itself does not appear in the description set.

XML Example 21: Non-Literal Value as Described Resource

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dcds:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dcds="http://purl.org/dc/xmlns/2008/09/01/dc-ds-xml/">
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:literalValueString>DCMI Home Page</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <!-- Reference to value using local identifier -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueRef="DCMI" />
  </dcds:description>
  <dcds:description
    dcds:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/title">
      <dcds:valueString>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcds:valueString>
    </dcds:statement>
    <!-- Reference to value using local identifier -->
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/publisher"
                   dcds:valueRef="DCMI" />
  </dcds:description>
  <!-- Description of value using local identifier -->
  <dcds:description dcds:resourceId="DCMI">
    <dcds:statement dcds:propertyURI="http://my.example.org/terms/name">
      <dcds:literalValueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcds:literalValueString>
    </dcds:statement>
  </dcds:description>
</dcds:descriptionSet>

Appendix A. DC-TEXT Representation of Example Description Sets

This appendix provides representations of all the examples provided in the main body of the document using the DC-Text syntax [DC-TEXT].

A.1 Example 1

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 1 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.2 Example 2

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 2 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.3 Example 3

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 3 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.4 Example 4

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 4 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.5 Example 5

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 5 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.6 Example 6

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 6 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "UKOLN Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.7 Example 7

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 7 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.8 Example 8

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 8 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.9 Example 9

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 9 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.10 Example 10

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 10 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.11 Examples 11

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 11 represents the following description set:

@prefix my: <http://my.example.org/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( my:name )
      LiteralValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.12 Example 12

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 11 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.13 Example 13

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 13 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:subject )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
  )
)

A.14 Example 14

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 14 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:subject )
      ValueClassURI ( <http://example.org/terms/Concept> )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.15 Example 15

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 15 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:subject )
      ValueClassURI ( <http://example.org/terms/Concept> )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.16 Examples 16

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 16 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:subject )
      ValueClassURI ( <http://example.org/terms/Concept> )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
      ValueString ( "Métadonnées" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.17 Example 17

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 17 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:date )
      ValueString ( "2005-05-05" )
    )
  )
)

A.18 Example 18

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 18 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:date )
      ValueString ( "2005-05-05"
        SyntaxEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date> )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.19 Example 19

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 19 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:description )
      LiteralValueString ( "<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
          <p>The DCMI home page provides an overview of the content of the
          <a title="DCMI Web Site" href="/">DCMI Web
          site</a>. It also displays current news items.</p>
        </div>"
        SyntaxEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#XMLLiteral> )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.20 Example 20

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 20 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix my: <http://my.example.org/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/althome> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Alternative Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( my:name )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.21 Example 21

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 21 represents the following description set:

@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix my: <http://my.example.org/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      LiteralValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueId ( DCMI )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/althome> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Alternative Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:publisher )
      ValueRef ( DCMI )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceId ( DCMI )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( my:name )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

Appendix B.

RDF/XML Representation of Examples

This appendix provides representations of all the examples provided in the main body of the document using the RDF/XML syntax [RDFXML].

B.1 Example 1

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 1 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.2 Example 2

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 2 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.3 Example 3

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 3 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.4 Example 4

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 4 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.5 Example 5

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 5 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.6 Example 6

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 6 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
  <rdf:Description>
    <dcterms:title>UKOLN Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.7 Example 7

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 7 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.8 Example 8

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 8 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.9 Example 9

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 9 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:parseType="Resource=">
      <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:publisher;>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.10 Example 10

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 10 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:publisher>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.11 Example 11

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 11 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:my="http://my.example.org/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
    <my:name>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</my:name>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.12 Example 12

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 12 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.13 Example 13

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 13 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:dcam="http://purl.org/dc/dcam/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:subject rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <dcam:memberOf rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH" />
      <rdf:value>Metadata</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:subject>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.14 Example 14

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 14 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:dcam="http://purl.org/dc/dcam/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:subject rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <dcam:memberOf rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH" />
      <rdf:value>Metadata</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:subject>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="http://dublincore.org/site">
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.15 Example 15

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 15 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:dcam="http://purl.org/dc/dcam/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:subject rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <dcam:memberOf rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH" />
      <rdf:value>Metadata</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:subject>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="http://dublincore.org/site">
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.16 Example 16

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 16 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:dcam="http://purl.org/dc/dcam/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:subject rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <dcam:memberOf rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH" />
      <rdf:value>Metadata</rdf:value>
      <rdf:value>Métadonnées</rdf:value>
    </dcterms:subject>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.17 Example 17

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 17 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date>2005-05-05</dcterms:date>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.18 Example 18

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 18 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
        <rdf:value>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</rdf:value>
      </rdf:Description>
    </dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date">2005-05-05</dcterms:date>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.19 Example 19

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 19 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:description rdf:parseType="Literal">
      <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
        <p>The DCMI home page provides an overview of the content of the
        <a title="DCMI Web Site" href="/">DCMI Web
        site</a>. It also displays current news items.</p>
      </div>
    </dcterms:description>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.20 Example 20

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 20 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:my="http://my.example.org/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:resource="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </rdf:Description>
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/althome">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:resource="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </rdf:Description>
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
    <my:name>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</my:name>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

B.21 Example 21

The DC-DS-XML instance in Example 21 represents the following RDF graph:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
        xmlns:my="http://my.example.org/terms/" >
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:nodeID="DCMI" />
  </rdf:Description>
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/pages/althome">
    <dcterms:title>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:publisher rdf:nodeID="DCMI" />
  </rdf:Description>
  <rdf:Description rdf:nodeID="DCMI">
    <my:name>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</my:name>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

References

[ABSTRACT-MODEL]
DCMI Abstract Model DCMI Recommendation. 2007-06-04
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/abstract-model/2007-06-04/

[DC-DSP]
Description Set Profiles: A constraint language for Dublin Core™ Application Profiles DCMI Working Draft. 2008-03-31
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-dsp/2008-03-31/

[DC-RDF]
Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) DCMI Recommendation. 2008-01-14
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-rdf/2008-01-14/

[DC-TEXT]
Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using the DC-Text format DCMI Recommended Resource. 2007-12-03
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-text/2007-12-03/

[DCAP]
The Singapore Framework for Dublin Core™ Application Profiles 2008-01-14
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/singapore-framework/2008-01-14//

[GRDDL]
Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL) W3C Recommendation 11 September 2007
http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-grddl-20070911/

[RDFXML]
RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised) W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/

[RFC3986]
Berners-Lee, T., R. Fielding, L. Masinter. RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). January 2005.
< http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt>

[RFC4646]
Phillips, A., M. Davis. RFC 4646: Tags for Identifying Languages. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). September 2006.
< http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt>

[XML]
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fourth Edition) W3C Recommendation 16 August 2006, edited in place 29 September 2006
http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-20060816/

[XMLSCHEMA]
XML Schema Part 0: Primer Second Edition W3C Recommendation 28 October 2004
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-0-20041028/

Errata

2009-08-27. Corrected incorrect "Replaces" link (had pointed to "http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-xml/2006-05-06/").