Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using XML (SUPERSEDED, SEE DC-DS-XML)

Creator:	Pete Johnston Eduserv Foundation Andy Powell Eduserv Foundation
Date Issued:	2006-05-30
Identifier:	http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-xml/2006-05-29/
Replaces:	Not applicable
Is Replaced By:	http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-ds-xml/2008-09-01/
Latest Version:	http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dc-xml/
Status of Document:	This is a DCMI Working Draft.
Description of Document:	This document specifies an XML format for representing a Dublin Core™ metadata description set. The XML format is known as "DC-XML".

Introduction
The DCMI Abstract Model and DC-XML
The DC-XML Syntax
GRDDL
Appendix A: Text Representation of Examples
Notes
References

1. Introduction

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

The DCMI Abstract Model [DCAM] 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-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 Model" of the DCAM, 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 "Schema Model" of the DCAM. 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 DCAM 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, all the constraints expressed in a DC Application Profile are captured using W3C XML Schema.

2. The DCMI Abstract Model and DC-XML

According to the DCAM:

a description set is made up of one or more descriptions
a description is made up of
- zero or one resource URI and
- one or more statements
a statement is made up of
- exactly one property URI and
- zero or one reference to a value in the form of a value URI
- zero or more representations of a value, each in the form of a value representation
- zero or one vocabulary encoding scheme URI
a value representation is either
- a value string or
- a rich representation
a value string may have an associated value string language
a value string may have an associated syntax encoding scheme URI
a value may be the subject of a related description

The DC-XML format described in this document implements all the features of the DCAM.

3. The DC-XML Syntax

3.1 URIs and XML Qualified Names

The DCAM uses URIs to refer both to resources and to metadata terms (properties, vocabulary encoding schemes and syntax encoding schemes). In DC-XML, URIs are sometimes represented as XML Qualified Names (QNames). An XML QName is an abbreviation for an "expanded name", a pair consisting of an XML Namespace Name (a URI, which is associated with the QName prefix in an XML Namespace declaration) and a local name.

For a software application that is parsing a DC-XML instance, the URI is determined from the XML QName by appending the local name part of the QName to the XML Namespace Name. Note that only some XML QNames in a DC-XML instance are mapped to URIs in this way: this specification indicates when that mapping is applied.

For a software application that is "encoding" a description set by generating a DC-XML instance, the QName is determined by using the trailing characters of the URI as the local name of the QName, and the preceding part of the URI as the XML Namespace Name. Note that this means for a single URI there is more than one possible QName representation. For example, the URI http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date might be represented using any of the following expanded names (XML Namespace Name, local name pairs):

{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/}, date
{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/d}, ate
{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/da}, te
{http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/dat}, e

Communities typically decide on a convention for the QName to be used, but in theory any of these four forms could be deployed without changing the interpretation of the instance. For all DCMI terms, the convention used by the DCMI community is to split the term URI into an expanded name at the right-most '/' (forward slash) character (as per the first example above).

In DC-XML, only some URIs are represented as XML QNames; other URIs are represented in full. The table below summarises the options available:

URI	May be represented as URI	May be represented as QName
Resource URI	Yes	No
Value URI	Yes	No
Property URI	No	Yes
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI	Yes	Yes
Syntax Encoding Scheme URI	Yes	Yes

3.2 Encoding a Description Set: The Description Set Element

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

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

A Description Set Element always has an expanded name with the XML Namespace Name http://purl.org/dc/xml/ and local name descriptionSet. In the examples presented in this document, the XML Namespace Name http://purl.org/dc/xml/ is always associated with the prefix "dcx".

<?xml version="1.0"?>

       <!-- Description Set Element -->
<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description>
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 1: the Description Set Element

3.3 Encoding a Description: The Description Element

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

In DC-XML, a description is represented by an XML element known as a Description Element. Any XML element which is a child element of a Description Set Element is a Description Element.

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

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/"
  xmlns:my="http:example.org/myapplication/">

  <my:webPageDescription> <!-- Description Element -->
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </my:webPageDescription>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 2: the Description Element

In the remainder of this document, Description Elements are shown using an XML element with an expanded name with the XML Namespace Name http://purl.org/dc/xml/ and local name description (represented by the XML QName dcx:description). However, it is important to remember that a Description Element may have a different element name if such a name is useful or neceesary for the particular application.

A description set may contain multiple descriptions.

In DC-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 version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description> <!-- 1st Description Element -->
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

  <dcx:description> <!-- 2nd Description Element -->
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>UKOLN Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 3: Multiple Description Elements

The encoding of description sets with multiple descriptions is described further in section 3.6.

3.3.1 The Resource URI

A description may have an associated resource URI.

In DC-XML, a resource URI must be encoded in full. The resource URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Description Element. The attribute has the name dcx:resourceURI.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home"> <!-- resource URI -->
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 4: the Resource URI Attribute

Note that the representation of the resource URI may be abbreviated through the use of an XML entity reference, as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE dcx:descriptionSet [
  <!ENTITY dcmi 'http://dublincore.org/pages/'>
]>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="&dcmi;home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 5: the Resource URI Attribute (with XML entity reference)

3.4 Encoding Statements: Statement Elements

A description is made up of one or more statements.

In DC-XML, each child XML element of a Description Element represents a single statement and is known as a Statement Element.

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

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title> <!-- Statement Element -->
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 6: A Statement Element

A description may be made up of multiple statements.

In DC-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 version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title> <!-- Statement Element -->
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher> <!-- Statement Element -->
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 7: Multiple Statement Elements

3.4.1 The Property URI

A statement must contain exactly one property URI.

In DC-XML, the property URI is represented by the element name of the Statement Element (an XML QName). The property URI is determined from the QName by applying the QName-URI mapping described in section 3.1

The example below shows a description consisting of two statements where the property URIs are http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title and http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/publisher.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher>
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 8: The Property URI

3.4.2 The Value URI

A statement may contain a value URI.

In DC-XML, the value URI must be encoded in full. The value URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. The attribute has the name dcx:valueURI.

The example below shows a description consisting of two statements where the second statement includes the value URI http://example.org/agents/DCMI.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI"> <!-- value URI -->
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 9: The Value URI Attribute

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

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE dcx:descriptionSet [
  <!ENTITY agent 'http://example.org/agents/'>
]>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="&agent;DCMI"> <!-- entity reference -->
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 10: the Value URI Attribute (with XML entity reference)

3.4.3 The Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

A statement may include a vocabulary encoding scheme URI.

In DC-XML, a vocabulary encoding scheme URI may either be encoded in full or as an XML QName. In both cases it is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element. If the value URI appears in full, the attribute has the name dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI. If the value URI is represented using an XML QName, the attribute has the name dcx:vocabEncSchemeQName.

The example below shows a description consisting of three statements where the third statement includes the vocabulary encoding scheme URI http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
                <!-- vocabulary encoding scheme URI -->
    <dc:subject dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <dcx:valueString>Metadata</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:subject>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 11: The Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

Where an XML QName is used, the vocabulary encoding scheme URI is determined from the QName by applying the QName-URI mapping described in section 3.1.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
                <!-- vocabulary encoding scheme QName -->
    <dc:subject dcx:vocabEncSchemeQName="dcterms:LCSH">
      <dcx:valueString>Metadata</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:subject>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 12: the Vocabulary Encoding Scheme QName Attribute

Note that the two examples above illustrate two alternate ways of representing the same information. A single Statement Element should not have both a dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI and a dcx:vocabEncSchemeQName attribute.

3.4.4 Empty Statement Elements

The presence of a value representation in a statement is optional.

In DC-XML, the Statement Element may therefore be empty.

The example below shows a description consisting of four statements where the fourth statement provides a value URI but no value representation.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dc:subject dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <dcx:valueString>Metadata</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:subject>
    <!-- statement with no value representation -->
    <dcterms:isPartOf dcx:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 13: Empty Statement Element

3.5 Encoding Value Strings and Rich Representations: Value Representation Elements

A statement may contain multiple value representations.

In DC-XML, the value representations are represented by child elements of the Statement Element known as Value Representation Elements. The order of the Value Representation Elements within a Statement Element is not significant.

A value representation may take the form of a value string or a rich representation

3.5.1 The Value String

A value string is represented by an XML element with the element name dcx:valueString.

The example below shows a description consisting of four statements where the first three statements each include a value string.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <!-- value string -->
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <!-- value string -->
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dc:subject dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH">
      <!-- value string -->
      <dcx:valueString>Metadata</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:subject>
    <dcterms:isPartOf dcx:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 14: The Value String

A statement may contain multiple value strings, each represented by a separate dcx:valueString child XML element.

The following example shows a description in which the first statement provides three value strings:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/sitemap/">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>Site Map</dcx:valueString> <!-- three value strings -->
      <dcx:valueString>Plan du site</dcx:valueString>
      <dcx:valueString>Plan del sitio</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dcterms:isPartOf dcx:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/site" />
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 15: Multiple Value Strings

3.5.1.1 The Value String Language

A value string may have an associated value string language.

In DC-XML, a value string language is represented by an xml:lang attribute of the dcx:valueString XML element representing the value string.

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

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <!-- value string language -->
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dc:date>
      <dcx:valueString>2005-05-05</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:date>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 16: The Value String Language

3.5.1.2 The Syntax Encoding Scheme URI

A value string may have an associated syntax encoding scheme URI.

In DC-XML, a syntax encoding scheme URI may be encoded in full or it may be represented as an XML QName. In both cases, the syntax encoding scheme URI is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the dcx:valueString element. If the syntax encoding scheme URI is encoded in full, the attribute has the name dcx:syntaxEncSchemeURI. If it is represented using an XML QName, the attribute has the name dcx:syntaxEncSchemeQName.

The example below shows a description consisting of three statements where the third statement associates the syntax encoding scheme URI http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date with the value string "2005-05-05":

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dc:date>
                       <!-- syntax encoding scheme URI -->
      <dcx:valueString dcx:syntaxEncSchemeURI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date">2005-05-05</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:date>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 17: The Syntax Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

Where an XML QName is used, the syntax encoding scheme URI is determined from the QName by applying the QName-URI mapping described in section 3.1.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">

    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:publisher>
    <dc:date>
                       <!-- syntax encoding scheme QName -->
      <dcx:valueString dcx:syntaxEncSchemeQName="xsd:date">2005-05-05</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:date>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 18: the Syntax Encoding Scheme QName Attribute

Note that these two examples illustrate two alternate ways of representing the same information. A single dcx:valueString XML element should not have both a dcx:syntaxEncSchemeURI and a dcx:syntaxEncSchemeQName attribute.

3.5.2 Rich Representations

A value may also be represented by a rich representation - i.e. by some XML data or by a binary data object.

3.5.2.1 XML Data

An XML data rich representation may be provided in two ways. It may be provided "inline" within the DC-XML document or it may be provided as a separate XML document, the URI of which is provided as an attribute value.

Inline XML data is represented by the content of a Value Representation Element with the element name dcx:XMLRepresentation.

The example below shows a description consisting of two statements where the second statement includes a rich representation of the value in the form of an XML fragment:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:description>
      <dcx:XMLRepresentation> <!-- inline XML data -->
        <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>
      </dcx:XMLRepresentation>
    </dc:description>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 19: Rich Representation - XML Data

The URI of external XML data is encoded as the value of the dcx:representationURI attribute of the dcx:XMLRepresentation element, as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:description>
                                                      <!-- external XML data -->
      <dcx:XMLRepresentation dcx:representationURI="http://example.org/docs/doc.xml" />
    </dc:description>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 20: Rich Representation - XML Data

3.5.2.2 Binary Data

A binary data rich representation may be provided in two ways. It may be provided "inline" within the DC-XML document or it may be provided as a separate resource, the URI of which is provided as an attribute value.

Inline binary data is represented by the content of a Value Representation Element with the element name dcx:binaryRepresentation. The XML element content is a Base64 encoding of the binary object.

The example below shows a description consisting of two statements where the second statement includes a rich representation of the value in the form of a binary data object:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:description>
                                <!-- inline binary data object -->
      <dcx:binaryRepresentation>AABBCCDDEEFF</dcx:binaryRepresentation>
    </dc:description>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 21: Rich Representation - Binary Data

The URI of external binary data is encoded as the value of the dcx:representationURI attribute of the dcx:binaryRepresentation element:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>

    </dc:title>
    <dc:description>
                                                         <!-- external binary data object -->
      <dcx:binaryRepresentation dcx:representationURI="http://example.org/imgs/img.png" />
    </dc:description>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 22: Rich Representation - Binary Data

A statement may contain multiple rich representations in the form of separate dcx:XMLRepresentation or dcx:binaryRepresentation XML elements. Furthermore, a single statement may provide both value strings and rich representations.

The following example shows a description in which the second statement provides two value strings and two rich representations:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <dc:description>
      <!-- two value strings -->
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="en-GB">
        The home page provides an overview of the content of the
        DCMI Web site. It also displays current news items.
      </dcx:valueString>
      <dcx:valueString xml:lang="es-ES">
        El Home Page proporciona una descripci&#243;n del contenido
        del sitio del Web de DCMI. Adem&#225;s presenta noticias actuales.
      </dcx:valueString>
      <!-- two rich representations -->
      <dcx:XMLRepresentation>
        <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-GB">
          <p>The 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>
      </dcx:XMLRepresentation>
      <dcx:XMLRepresentation>
        <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="es-ES">
          <p>El Home Page proporciona una descripci&#243;n del contenido
          del <a title="El sitio del Web de DCMI" href="/">
          sitio del Web de DCMI</a>. Adem&#225;s se presentan noticias
          actuales.</p>
        </div>
      </dcx:XMLRepresentation>
    </dc:description>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 23: Multiple Value Strings and Multiple Rich Representations

As noted in section 3.3, description sets may contain multiple descriptions. Each description is represented by a separate Description Element. The order of the Description Elements has no significance.

In cases where a description is about a resource which is the value of a statement in another description within the description set, the description is known as a related description. 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 resource URI in the description of that resource, as shown below:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:my="http://my.example.org/terms/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
                                <!-- value URI -->
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </dcx:description>

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/althome">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
                                <!-- value URI -->
    <dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI" />
  </dcx:description>

  <dcx:description
                     <!-- value URI used as resource URI in related description -->
    dcx:resourceURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
    <my:name>
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </my:name>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 24: Related Description

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 and the subject of another description in the same description set (a related description).

In such cases, the association between the statement and the related description is made by labelling the related description using an XML attribute of the Description Element. The attribute has the name dcx:descriptionId. The attribute value may then be cited in the the value of a dcx:descriptionRef XML attribute of one or more Statement Elements elsewhere in the same description set. Each value of a dcx:descriptionRef XML attribute must match the value of a dcx:descriptionId attribute in the same DC-XML instance.

Note that this is a syntactic mechanism for linking references to values to the related descriptions of those values: the label itself does not appear in the DCAM.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:my="http://my.example.org/terms/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/">

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <!-- Reference to related description using label -->
    <dc:publisher dcx:descriptionRef="DCMI" />
  </dcx:description>

  <dcx:description
    dcx:resourceURI="http://dublincore.org/pages/home">
    <dc:title>
      <dcx:valueString>DCMI Alternative Home Page</dcx:valueString>
    </dc:title>
    <!-- Reference to related description using label -->
    <dc:publisher dcx:descriptionRef="DCMI" />
  </dcx:description>

  <!-- Related description with label -->
  <dcx:description dcx:descriptionId="DCMI">
    <my:name>
      <dcx:valueString>Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
    </my:name>
  </dcx:description>

</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 25: Related Description

4. GRDDL

An XSLT transformation from DC-XML to RDF/XML [RDFXML] is available.

The GRDDL specification [GRDDL] defines a set of conventions for associating an XML instance document with a transformation.

One approach is to reference the transformation using an attribute of the root element, as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<dcx:descriptionSet
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcx="http://purl.org/dc/xml/"
  xmlns:data-view="http://www.w3.org/2003/g/data-view#"
  data-view:transformation="dcx2rdfxml.xsl">
  ...
</dcx:descriptionSet>

XML Example 26: GRDDL

The transformation can also be associated with a set of XML documents through information provided by the "namespace document".

Appendix A. DC-TEXT Representation of Examples

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-XML document in Example 1 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.2 Example 2

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.3 Example 3

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
  Description (
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "UKOLN Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.4 Example 4

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.5 Example 5

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcmi: <http://dublincore.org/pages/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( dcmi:home )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.6 Example 6

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
  )
)

A.7 Example 7

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.8 Example 8

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.9 Example 9

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.10 Example 10

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix agent: <http://example.org/agents/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( agent:DCMI )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.11 Example 11

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
  )
)

A.12 Example 12

The DC-XML document in Example 12 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix dcmi: <http://dublincore.org/pages/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( dcmi:home )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( dcterms:LCSH )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
  )
)

A.13 Example 13

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.14 Example 14

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
      VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://purl.org/dc/terms/LCSH> )
      ValueString ( "Metadata" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.15 Example 15

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/sitemap> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "Site Map" )
      ValueString ( "Plan du site" )
      ValueString ( "Plan del sitio" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dcterms:isPartOf )
      ValueURI ( <http://dublincore.org/site> )
    )
  )
)

A.16 Example 16

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:date )
      ValueString ( "2005-05-05" )
    )
  )
)

A.17 Example 17

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:date )
      ValueString ( "2005-05-05"
        SyntaxEncodingSchemeURI ( <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#date> )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.18 Example 18

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcmi: <http://dublincore.org/pages/> .
@prefix agent: <http://example.org/agents/> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( dcmi:home )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( agent:DCMI )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:date )
      ValueString ( "2005-05-05"
        SyntaxEncodingSchemeURI ( xsd:date )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.19 Example 19

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:description )
      RichRepresentation (
        "<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=\"http://dublincore.org/\">DCMI Web site</a>.
           It also displays current news items.</p>
         </div>"
      )
    )
  )
)

A.20 Example 20

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:description )
      RichRepresentation (
        RepresentationURI ( <http://example.org/docs/doc.xml> )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.21 Example 21

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

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:description )
      RichRepresentation (
        Base64 ( "AABBCCDDEEFF" )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.22 Example 22

The DC-XML document in Example 22 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:description )
      RichRepresentation (
        RepresentationURI ( <http://example.org/imgs/img.png> )
      )
    )
  )
)

A.23 Example 23

The DC-XML document in Example 23 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page"
        Language ( en-GB )
      )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:description )
      ValueString (
        "The home page provides an overview of the content of the
        DCMI Web site. It also displays current news items."
        Language: ( en-GB )
      )
      ValueString (
        "El Home Page proporciona una descripción del contenido
        del sitio del Web de DCMI. Además presenta noticias actuales."
        Language: ( es-ES )
      )
      RichRepresentation (
        "<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-GB">
          <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>"
      )
      RichRepresentation (
        "<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="es-ES">
          <p>El Home Page proporciona una descripción del contenido
          del <a title="El sitio del Web de DCMI" href="/">
          sitio del Web de DCMI<a/>. Además se presentan noticias
          actuales.</p>
         </div>"
      )
    )
  )
)

A.24 Example 24

The DC-XML document in Example 24 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix my: <http://my.example.org/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/althome> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Alternative Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      ValueURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://example.org/agents/DCMI> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( my:name )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

A.25 Example 25

The DC-XML document in Example 24 represents the following description set:

@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix my: <http://my.example.org/terms/> .
DescriptionSet (
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/home> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      DescriptionRef ( descDCMI )
    )
  )
  Description (
    ResourceURI ( <http://dublincore.org/pages/althome> )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:title )
      ValueString ( "DCMI Alternative Home Page" )
    )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( dc:publisher )
      DescriptionRef ( descDCMI )
    )
  )
  Description (
    DescriptionId ( descDCMI )
    Statement (
      PropertyURI ( my:name )
      ValueString ( "Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative" )
    )
  )
)

Notes

[1] This document defines one XML format for representing DC metadata description sets in XML. Other formats may exist supporting other subsets of the DCMI Abstract Model. For example, the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting [OAIPMH] defines a format, commonly known as oai_dc, which supports the serialisation only of description sets containing a single description, with statements referencing only the fifteen properties of the DCMES, and using value strings only. oai_dc is a different XML format from DC-XML, but that does not change the value and usefulness of oai_dc as a format for serialising that particular subset of DC metadata description sets.

[2] In this document the term "element" is used to refer only to XML elements, and it should always be interpreted in that sense wherever it occurs. It is not used to refer to the properties of the DCMES.

References

[DCAM]
DCMI Abstract Model
http://dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/abstract-model/

[XML]
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Third Edition). W3C Recommendation 04 February 2004.
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml

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

[XMLNS]
Namespaces in XML. W3C Recommendation 14 January 1999.
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names

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

[GRDDL]
Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL) W3C Team Submission 16 May 2005
http://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/grddl/

[OAIPMH]
The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting Protocol Version 2.0 of 2002-06-14.
http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html

[DC-TEXT]
DC-Text: A Text Syntax for Dublin Core™ Metadata Draft of 2006-05-24.
http://dublincore.org/architecturewiki/DCText/2006-05-24

Changes in this Version

Initial version

Errata

2009-08-27. Added "superseded" banner and forward links to DC-DS-XML.

Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using XML

Expressing Dublin Core™ metadata using XML (SUPERSEDED, SEE DC-DS-XML)

Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Design Considerations

2. The DCMI Abstract Model and DC-XML

3. The DC-XML Syntax

3.1 URIs and XML Qualified Names

3.2 Encoding a Description Set: The Description Set Element

3.3 Encoding a Description: The Description Element

3.3.1 The Resource URI

3.4 Encoding Statements: Statement Elements

3.4.1 The Property URI

3.4.2 The Value URI

3.4.3 The Vocabulary Encoding Scheme URI Attribute

3.4.4 Empty Statement Elements

3.5 Encoding Value Strings and Rich Representations: Value Representation Elements

3.5.1 The Value String

3.5.1.1 The Value String Language

3.5.1.2 The Syntax Encoding Scheme URI

3.5.2 Rich Representations

3.5.2.1 XML Data

3.5.2.2 Binary Data

3.6 Encoding Related Descriptions

4. GRDDL

Appendix A. DC-TEXT Representation of Examples

A.1 Example 1

A.2 Example 2

A.3 Example 3

A.4 Example 4

A.5 Example 5

A.6 Example 6

A.7 Example 7

A.8 Example 8

A.9 Example 9

A.10 Example 10

A.11 Example 11

A.12 Example 12

A.13 Example 13

A.14 Example 14

A.15 Example 15

A.16 Example 16

A.17 Example 17

A.18 Example 18

A.19 Example 19

A.20 Example 20

A.21 Example 21

A.22 Example 22

A.23 Example 23

A.24 Example 24

A.25 Example 25

Notes

References

Changes in this Version

Errata