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+
+Network Working Group J. Kunze
+Request for Comments: 2731 Dublin Core
+Category: Informational Metadata Initiative
+ December 1999
+
+
+ Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML
+
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+ This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
+ not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
+ memo is unlimited.
+
+Copyright Notice
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
+
+1. Abstract
+
+ The Dublin Core [DC1] is a small set of metadata elements for
+ describing information resources. This document explains how these
+ elements are expressed using the META and LINK tags of HTML
+ [HTML4.0]. A sequence of metadata elements embedded in an HTML file
+ is taken to be a description of that file. Examples illustrate
+ conventions allowing interoperation with current software that
+ indexes, displays, and manipulates metadata, such as [SWISH-E],
+ [freeWAIS-sf2.0], [GLIMPSE], [HARVEST], [ISEARCH], etc., and the Perl
+ [PERL] scripts in the appendix.
+
+2. HTML, Dublin Core, and Non-Dublin Core Metadata
+
+ The Dublin Core (DC) metadata initiative [DCHOME] has produced a
+ small set of resource description categories [DC1], or elements of
+ metadata (literally, data about data). Metadata elements are
+ typically small relative to the resource they describe and may, if
+ the resource format permits, be embedded in it. Two such formats are
+ the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the Extensible Markup
+ Language (XML); HTML is currently in wide use, but once standardized,
+ XML [XML] in conjunction with the Resource Description Framework
+ [RDF] promise a significantly more expressive means of encoding
+ metadata. The [RDF] specification actually describes a way to use
+ RDF within an HTML document by adhering to an abbreviated syntax.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 1]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ This document explains how to encode metadata using HTML 4.0
+ [HTML4.0]. It is not concerned with element semantics, which are
+ defined elsewhere. For illustrative purposes, some element semantics
+ are alluded to, but in no way should semantics appearing here be
+ considered definitive.
+
+ The HTML encoding allows elements of DC metadata to be interspersed
+ with non-DC elements (provided such mixing is consistent with rules
+ governing use of those non-DC elements). A DC element is indicated
+ by the prefix "DC", and a non-DC element by another prefix; for
+ example, the prefix "AC" is used with elements from the A-Core [AC].
+
+3. The META Tag
+
+ The META tag of HTML is designed to encode a named metadata element.
+ Each element describes a given aspect of a document or other
+ information resource. For example, this tagged metadata element,
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Simpson, Homer">
+
+ says that Homer Simpson is the Creator, where the element named
+ Creator is defined in the DC element set. In the more general form,
+
+ <meta name = "PREFIX.ELEMENT_NAME"
+ content = "ELEMENT_VALUE">
+
+ the capitalized words are meant to be replaced in actual
+ descriptions; thus in the example,
+
+ ELEMENT_NAME was: Creator
+ ELEMENT_VALUE was: Simpson, Homer
+ and PREFIX was: DC
+
+ Within a META tag the first letter of a Dublin Core element name is
+ capitalized. DC places no restriction on alphabetic case in an
+ element value and any number of META tagged elements may appear
+ together, in any order. More than one DC element with the same name
+ may appear, and each DC element is optional. The next example is a
+ book description with two authors, two titles, and no other metadata.
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "The Communist Manifesto">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Marx, K.">
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 2]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Engels, F.">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Capital">
+
+ The prefix "DC" precedes each Dublin Core element encoded with META,
+ and it is separated by a period (.) from the element name following
+ it. Each non-DC element should be encoded with a prefix that can be
+ used to trace its origin and definition; the linkage between prefix
+ and element definition is made with the LINK tag, as explained in the
+ next section. Non-DC elements, such as Email from the A-Core [AC],
+ may appear together with DC elements, as in
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Da Costa, Jos&eacute;">
+ <meta name = "AC.Email"
+ content = "dacostaj@peoplesmail.org">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Jesse &#34;The Body&#34; Ventura--A Biography">
+
+ This example also shows how some special characters may be encoded.
+ The author name in the first element contains a diacritic encoded as
+ an HTML character entity reference -- in this case an accented letter
+ E. Similarly, the last line contains two double-quote characters
+ encoded so as to avoid being interpreted as element content
+ delimiters.
+
+4. The LINK Tag
+
+ The LINK tag of HTML may be used to associate an element name prefix
+ with the reference definition of the element set that it identifies.
+ A sequence of META tags describing a resource is incomplete without
+ one such LINK tag for each different prefix appearing in the
+ sequence. The previous example could be considered complete with the
+ addition of these two LINK tags:
+
+ <link rel = "schema.DC"
+ href = "http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/">
+ <link rel = "schema.AC"
+ href = "http://metadata.net/ac/2.0/">
+
+ In general, the association takes the form
+
+ <link rel = "schema.PREFIX"
+ href = "LOCATION_OF_DEFINITION">
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 3]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ where, in actual descriptions, PREFIX is to be replaced by the prefix
+ and LOCATION_OF_DEFINITION by the URL or URN of the defining
+ document. When embedded in the HEAD part of an HTML file, a sequence
+ of LINK and META tags describes the information in the surrounding
+ HTML file itself. Here is a complete HTML file with its own embedded
+ description.
+
+ <html>
+ <head>
+ <title> A Dirge </title>
+ <link rel = "schema.DC"
+ href = "http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "A Dirge">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Shelley, Percy Bysshe">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "poem">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date"
+ content = "1820">
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "text/html">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "en">
+ </head>
+ <body><pre>
+ Rough wind, that moanest loud
+ Grief too sad for song;
+ Wild wind, when sullen cloud
+ Knells all the night long;
+ Sad storm, whose tears are vain,
+ Bare woods, whose branches strain,
+ Deep caves and dreary main, -
+ Wail, for the world's wrong!
+ </pre></body>
+ </html>
+
+5. Encoding Recommendations
+
+ HTML allows more flexibility in principle and in practice than is
+ recommended here for encoding metadata. Limited flexibility
+ encourages easy development of software for extracting and processing
+ metadata. At this early evolutionary stage of internet metadata,
+ easy prototyping and experimentation hastens the development of
+ useful standards.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 4]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ Adherence is therefore recommended to the tagging style exemplified
+ in this document as regards prefix and element name capitalization,
+ double-quoting (") of attribute values, and not starting more than
+ one META tag on a line. There is much room for flexibility, but
+ choosing a style and sticking with it will likely make metadata
+ manipulation and editing easier. The following META tags adhere to
+ the recommendations and carry identical metadata in three different
+ styles:
+
+ <META NAME="DC.Format"
+ CONTENT="text/html; 12 Kbytes">
+ <meta
+ Content = "text/html; 12 Kbytes"
+ Name = "DC.Format"
+ >
+ <meta name = "DC.Format" content = "text/html; 12 Kbytes">
+
+ Use of these recommendations is known to result in metadata that may
+ be harvested, indexed, and manipulated by popular, freely available
+ software packages such as [SWISH-E], [freeWAIS-sf2.0], [GLIMPSE],
+ [HARVEST], and [ISEARCH], among others. These conventions also work
+ with the metadata processing scripts appearing in the appendix, as
+ well as with most of the [DCPROJECTS] applications referenced from
+ the [DCHOME] site. Software support for the LINK tag and qualifier
+ conventions (see the next section) is not currently widespread.
+
+ Ordering of metadata elements is not preserved in general. Writers
+ of software for metadata indexing and display should try to preserve
+ relative ordering among META tagged elements having the same name
+ (e.g., among multiple authors), however, metadata providers and
+ searchers have no guarantee that ordering will be preserved in
+ metadata that passes through unknown systems.
+
+6. Dublin Core in Real Descriptions
+
+ In actual resource description it is often necessary to qualify
+ Dublin Core elements to add nuances of meaning. While neither the
+ general principles nor the specific semantics of DC qualifiers are
+ within scope of this document, everyday uses of the qualifier syntax
+ are illustrated to lend realism to later examples. Without further
+ explanation, the three ways in which the optional qualifier syntax is
+ currently (subject to change) used to supplement the META tag may be
+ summarized as follows:
+
+ <meta lang = "LANGUAGE_OF_METADATA_CONTENT" ... >
+
+ <meta scheme = "CONTROLLED_FORMAT_OR_VOCABULARY_OF_METADATA" ... >
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 5]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "PREFIX.ELEMENT_NAME.SUBELEMENT_NAME" ... >
+
+ Accordingly, a posthumous work in Spanish might be described with
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ scheme = "rfc1766"
+ content = "es">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ lang = "es"
+ content = "La Mesa Verde y la Silla Roja">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ lang = "en"
+ content = "The Green Table and the Red Chair">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Created"
+ content = "1935">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Available"
+ content = "1939">
+
+ Note that the qualifier syntax and label suffixes (which follow an
+ element name and a period) used in examples in this document merely
+ reflect current trends in the HTML encoding of qualifiers. Use of
+ this syntax and these suffixes is neither a standard nor a
+ recommendation.
+
+7. Encoding Dublin Core Elements
+
+ This section consists of very simple Dublin Core encoding examples,
+ arranged by element.
+
+ Title (name given to the resource)
+ -----
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Crime and Punishment">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Methods of Information in Medicine, Vol 32, No 4">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Still life #4 with flowers">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ lang = "de"
+ content = "Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Teil I">
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 6]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ Creator (entity that created the content)
+ -------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Gogh, Vincent van">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "van Gogh, Vincent">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Mao Tse Tung">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Mao, Tse Tung">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Plato">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ lang = "fr"
+ content = "Platon">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator.Director"
+ content = "Sturges, Preston">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator.Writer"
+ content = "Hecht, Ben">
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator.Producer"
+ content = "Chaplin, Charles">
+
+ Subject (topic or keyword)
+ -------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ content = "heart attack">
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ scheme = "MESH"
+ content = "Myocardial Infarction; Pericardial Effusion">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ content = "vietnam war">
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ scheme = "LCSH"
+ content = "Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ content = "Friendship">
+ <meta name = "DC.Subject"
+ scheme = "ddc"
+ content = "158.25">
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 7]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ Description (account, summary, or abstract of the content)
+ -----------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Description"
+ lang = "en"
+ content = "The Author gives some Account of Himself and Family
+ -- His First Inducements to Travel -- He is
+ Shipwrecked, and Swims for his Life -- Gets safe on
+ Shore in the Country of Lilliput -- Is made a
+ Prisoner, and carried up the Country">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Description"
+ content = "A tutorial and reference manual for Java.">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Description"
+ content = "Seated family of five, coconut trees to the left,
+ sailboats moored off sandy beach to the right,
+ with volcano in the background.">
+
+ Publisher (entity that made the resource available)
+ ---------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Publisher"
+ content = "O'Reilly">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Publisher"
+ content = "Digital Equipment Corporation">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Publisher"
+ content = "University of California Press">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Publisher"
+ content = "State of Florida (USA)">
+
+ Contributor (other entity that made a contribution)
+ -----------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Contributor"
+ content = "Curie, Marie">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Contributor.Photographer"
+ content = "Adams, Ansel">
+ <meta name = "DC.Contributor.Artist"
+ content = "Sendak, Maurice">
+ <meta name = "DC.Contributor.Editor"
+ content = "Starr, Kenneth">
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 8]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ Date (of an event in the life of the resource; [WTN8601] recommended)
+ ----
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date"
+ content = "1972">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date"
+ content = "1998-05-14">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date"
+ scheme = "WTN8601"
+ content = "1998-05-14">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Created"
+ content = "1998-05-14">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Available"
+ content = "1998-05-21">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Valid"
+ content = "1998-05-28">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Created"
+ content = "triassic">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Acquired"
+ content = "1957">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Accepted"
+ scheme = "WTN8601"
+ content = "1998-12-02T16:59">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.DataGathered"
+ scheme = "ISO8601"
+ content = "98-W49-3T1659">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Issued"
+ scheme = "ANSI.X3.X30-1985"
+ content = "19980514">
+
+ Type (nature, genre, or category; [DCT1] recommended)
+ ----
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "poem">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ scheme = "DCT1"
+ content = "software">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "software program source code">
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 9]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "interactive video game">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ scheme = "DCT1"
+ content = "dataset">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "web home page">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "web bibliography">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "painting">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "image; woodblock">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ scheme = "AAT"
+ content = "clipeus (portrait)">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ lang = "en-US"
+ content = "image; advertizement">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ scheme = "DCT1"
+ content = "event">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "event; periodic">
+
+ Format (physical or digital data format, plus optional dimensions)
+ ------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "text/xml">
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ scheme = "IMT"
+ content = "text/xml">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ scheme = "IMT"
+ content = "image/jpeg">
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "A text file with mono-spaced tables and diagrams.">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "video/mpeg; 14 minutes">
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 10]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "unix tar archive, gzip compressed; 1.5 Mbytes">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "watercolor; 23 cm x 31 cm">
+
+ Identifier (of the resource)
+ ----------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ content = "http://foo.bar.org/zaf/">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ content = "urn:ietf:rfc:1766">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ scheme = "ISBN"
+ content = "1-56592-149-6">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ scheme = "LCCN"
+ content = "67-26020">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ scheme = "DOI"
+ content = "10.12345/33-824688ab">
+
+ Source (reference to the resource's origin)
+ ------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Source"
+ content = "Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Source"
+ content = "http://a.b.org/manon/">
+
+ Language (of the content of the resource; [RFC1766] recommended)
+ --------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "en">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ scheme = "rfc1766"
+ content = "en">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ scheme = "ISO639-2"
+ content = "eng">
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 11]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ scheme = "rfc1766"
+ content = "en-US">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "zh">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "ja">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "es">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "de">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "german">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ lang = "fr"
+ content = "allemand">
+
+ Relation (reference to a related resource)
+ --------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.IsPartOf"
+ content = "http://foo.bar.org/abc/proceedings/1998/">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.IsFormatOf"
+ content = "http://foo.bar.org/cd145.sgml">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.IsVersionOf"
+ content = "http://foo.bar.org/draft9.4.4.2">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.References"
+ content = "urn:isbn:1-56592-149-6">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.IsBasedOn"
+ content = "Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Relation.Requires"
+ content = "LWP::UserAgent; HTML::Parse; URI::URL;
+ Net::DNS; Tk::Pixmap; Tk::Bitmap; Tk::Photo">
+
+ Coverage (extent or scope of the content)
+ --------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Coverage"
+ content = "US civil war era; 1861-1865">
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 12]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Coverage"
+ content = "Columbus, Ohio, USA; Lat: 39 57 N Long: 082 59 W">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Coverage"
+ scheme = "TGN"
+ content = "Columbus (C,V)">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Coverage.Jurisdiction"
+ content = "Commonwealth of Australia">
+
+ Rights (text or identifier of a rights management statement)
+ ------
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Rights"
+ lang = "en"
+ content = "Copyright Acme 1999 - All rights reserved.">
+
+ <meta name = "DC.Rights"
+ content = "http://foo.bar.org/cgi-bin/terms">
+
+8. Security Considerations
+
+ The syntax rules for encoding Dublin Core metadata in HTML that are
+ documented here pose no direct risk to computers and networks.
+ People can use these rules to encode metadata that is inaccurate or
+ even deliberately misleading (creating mischief in the form of "index
+ spam"), however, this reflects a general pattern of HTML META tag
+ abuse that is not limited to the encoding of metadata from the Dublin
+ Core set. Even traditional metadata encoding schemes (e.g., [MARC])
+ are not immune to inaccuracy, although they are generally followed in
+ environments where production quality greatly exceeds that of the
+ average Web site.
+
+ Systems that process metadata encoded with META tags need to consider
+ issues related to its accuracy and validity as part of their design
+ and implementation, and users of such systems need to consider the
+ design and implementation assumptions. Various approaches may be
+ relevant for certain applications, such as adding statements of
+ metadata provenance, signing of metadata with digital signatures, and
+ automating certain aspects of metadata creation; but these are far
+ outside the scope of this document and the underlying META tag syntax
+ that it describes.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 13]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+9. Appendix -- Perl Scripts that Manipulate HTML Encoded Metadata
+
+ This section contains two simple programs that work with versions 4
+ and 5 of the Perl [PERL] scripting language interpreter. They may be
+ taken and freely adapted for local organizational needs, research
+ proposals, venture capital bids, etc. A variety of applications are
+ within easy reach of implementors that choose to build on these
+ scripts.
+
+ Script 1: Metadata Format Conversion
+ -------------------------------------
+
+ Here is a simple Perl script that correctly recognizes every example
+ of metadata encoding in this document. It shows how a modest
+ scripting effort can produce a utility that converts metadata from
+ one format to another. Minor changes are sufficient to support a
+ number of output formats.
+
+#!/depot/bin/perl
+#
+# This simple perl script extracts metadata embedded in an HTML file
+# and outputs it in an alternate format. Issues warning about missing
+# element name or value.
+#
+# Handles mixed case tags and attribute values, one per line or spanning
+# several lines. Also handles a quoted string spanning multiple lines.
+# No error checking. Does not tolerate more than one "<meta" per line.
+
+print "@(urc;\n";
+while (<>) {
+ next if (! /<meta/i);
+ ($meta) = /(<meta.*$)/i;
+ if (! /<meta.*>/i) {
+ while (<>) {
+ $meta .= $_;
+ last if (/>/);
+ }
+ }
+ $name = $meta =~ /name\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"/i
+ ? $1 : "MISSING ELEMENT NAME";
+ $content = $meta =~ /content\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"/i
+ ? $1 : "MISSING ELEMENT VALUE";
+ ($scheme) = $meta =~ /scheme\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"/i;
+ ($lang) = $meta =~ /lang\s*=\s*"([^"]*)"/i;
+
+ if ($lang || $scheme) {
+ $mod = " ($lang";
+ if (! $scheme)
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 14]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ { $mod .= ")"; }
+ elsif (! $lang)
+ { $mod .= "$scheme)" }
+ else
+ { $mod .= ", $scheme)"; }
+ }
+ else
+ { $mod = ""; }
+
+ print " @|$name$mod; $content\n";
+}
+print "@)urc;\n";
+# ---- end of Perl script ----
+
+ When the conversion script is run on the metadata file example from
+ the LINK tag section (section 4), it produces the following output.
+
+ @(urc;
+ @|DC.Title; A Dirge
+ @|DC.Creator; Shelley, Percy Bysshe
+ @|DC.Type; poem
+ @|DC.Date; 1820
+ @|DC.Format; text/html
+ @|DC.Language; en
+ @)urc;
+
+ Script 2: Automated Metadata Creation
+ --------------------------------------
+
+ The creation and maintenance of high-quality metadata can be
+ extremely expensive without automation to assist in processes such as
+ supplying pre-set or computed defaults, validating syntax, verifying
+ value ranges, spell checking, etc. Considerable relief could be had
+ from a script that reduced an individual provider's metadata burden
+ to just the title of each document. Below is such a script. It lets
+ the provider of an HTML document abbreviate an entire embedded
+ resource description using a single HTML comment statement that looks
+ like
+
+ <!--metablock Little Red Riding Hood -->
+
+ Our script processes this statement specially as a kind of "metadata
+ block" declaration with attached title. The general form is
+
+ <!--metablock TITLE_OF_DOCUMENT -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 15]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ This statement works much like a "Web server-side include" in that
+ the script replaces it with a fully-specified block of metadata and
+ triggers other replacements. Once installed, the script can output
+ HTML files suitable for integration into one's production Web server
+ procedures.
+
+ The individual provider keeps a separate "template" file of
+ infrequently changing pre-set values for metadata elements. If the
+ provider's needs are simple enough, the only element values besides
+ the title that differ from one document to the next may be generated
+ automatically. Using the script, values may be referenced as
+ variables from within the template or within the document. Our
+ variable references have the form "(--mbVARNAME)", and here is what
+ they look like inside a template:
+
+ <title> (--mbtitle) </title>
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Simpson, Homer">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "(--mbtitle)">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Created"
+ content = "(--mbfilemodtime)">
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ content = "(--mbbaseURL)/(--mbfilename)">
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "text/html; (--mbfilesize)">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "(--mblanguage)-BUREAUCRATESE">
+ <meta name = "RC.MetadataAuthority"
+ content = "Springfield Nuclear">
+ <link rel = "schema.DC"
+ href = "http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/">
+ <link rel = "schema.RC"
+ href = "http://nukes.org/ReactorCore/rc">
+
+ The above template represents the metadata block that will describe
+ the document once the variable references are replaced with real
+ values. By the conventions of our script, the following variables
+ will be replaced in both the template and in the document:
+
+ (--mbfilesize) size of the final output file
+ (--mbtitle) title of the document
+ (--mblanguage) language of the document
+ (--mbbaseURL) beginning part of document identifier
+ (--mbfilename) last part (minus .html) of identifier
+ (--mbfilemodtime) last modification date of the document
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 16]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ Here's an example HTML file to run the script on.
+
+ <html>
+ <head>
+ <!--metablock Nutritional Allocation Increase -->
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "Memorandum">
+ </head>
+ <body>
+ <p>
+ From: Acting Shift Supervisor
+ To: Plant Control Personnel
+ RE: (--mbtitle)
+ Date: (--mbfilemodtime)
+ <p>
+ Pursuant to directive DOH:10.2001/405aec of article B-2022,
+ subsection 48.2.4.4.1c regarding staff morale and employee
+ productivity standards, the current allocation of doughnut
+ acquisition funds shall be increased effective immediately.
+ </body>
+ </html>
+
+ Note that because replacement occurs throughout the document, the
+ provider need only enter the title once instead of twice (normally
+ the title must be entered once in the HTML head and again in the HTML
+ body). After running the script, the above file is transformed into
+ this:
+
+ <html>
+ <head>
+ <title> Nutritional Allocation Increase </title>
+ <meta name = "DC.Creator"
+ content = "Simpson, Homer">
+ <meta name = "DC.Title"
+ content = "Nutritional Allocation Increase">
+ <meta name = "DC.Date.Created"
+ content = "1999-03-08">
+ <meta name = "DC.Identifier"
+ content = "http://moes.bar.com/doh/homer.html">
+ <meta name = "DC.Format"
+ content = "text/html; 1320 bytes">
+ <meta name = "DC.Language"
+ content = "en-BUREAUCRATESE">
+ <meta name = "RC.MetadataAuthority"
+ content = "Springfield Nuclear">
+ <link rel = "schema.DC"
+ href = "http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.0/">
+ <link rel = "schema.RC"
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 17]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ href = "http://nukes.org/ReactorCore/rc">
+ <meta name = "DC.Type"
+ content = "Memorandum">
+ </head>
+ <body>
+ <p>
+ From: Acting Shift Supervisor
+ To: Plant Control Personnel
+ RE: Nutritional Allocation Increase
+ Date: 1999-03-08
+ <p>
+ Pursuant to directive DOH:10.2001/405aec of article B-2022,
+ subsection 48.2.4.4.1c regarding staff morale and employee
+ productivity standards, the current allocation of doughnut
+ acquisition funds shall be increased effective immediately.
+ </body>
+ </html>
+
+ Here is the script that accomplishes this transformation.
+
+#!/depot/bin/perl
+#
+# This Perl script processes metadata block declarations of the form
+# <!--metablock TITLE_OF_DOCUMENT --> and variable references of the
+# form (--mbVARNAME), replacing them with full metadata blocks and
+# variable values, respectively. Requires a "template" file.
+# Outputs an HTML file.
+#
+# Invoke this script with a single filename argument, "foo". It creates
+# an output file "foo.html" using a temporary working file "foo.work".
+# The size of foo.work is measured after variable replacement, and is
+# later inserted into the file in such a way that the file's size does
+# not change in the process. Has little or no error checking.
+
+$infile = shift;
+open(IN, "< $infile")
+ or die("Could not open input file \"$infile\"");
+$workfile = "$infile.work";
+unlink($workfile);
+open(WORK, "+> $workfile")
+ or die("Could not open work file \"$workfile\"");
+
+@offsets = (); # records locations for late size replacement
+$title = ""; # gets the title during metablock processing
+$language = "en"; # pre-set language here (not in the template)
+$baseURL = "http://moes.bar.com/doh"; # pre-set base URL here also
+$filename = "$infile.html"; # final output filename
+$filesize = "(--mbfilesize)"; # replaced late (separate pass)
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 18]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+($year, $month, $day) = (localtime( (stat IN) [9] ))[5, 4, 3];
+$filemodtime = sprintf "%s-%02s-%02s", 1900 + $year, 1 + $month, $day;
+
+sub putout { # outputs current line with variable replacement
+ if (! /\(--mb/) {
+ print WORK;
+ return;
+ }
+ if (/\(--mbfilesize\)/) # remember where it was
+ { push @offsets, tell WORK; } # but don't replace yet
+ s/\(--mbtitle\)/$title/g;
+ s/\(--mblanguage\)/$language/g;
+ s/\(--mbbaseURL\)/$baseURL/g;
+ s/\(--mbfilename\)/$filename/g;
+ s/\(--mbfilemodtime\)/$filemodtime/g;
+ print WORK;
+}
+
+while (<IN>) { # main loop for input file
+ if (! /(.*)<!--metablock\s*(.*)/) {
+ &putout;
+ next;
+ }
+ $title = $2;
+ $_ = $1;
+ &putout;
+ if ($title =~ s/\s*-->(.*)//) {
+ $remainder = $1;
+ }
+ else {
+ while (<IN>) {
+ $title .= $_;
+ last if (/(.*)\s*-->(.*)/);
+ }
+ $title .= $1;
+ $remainder = $2;
+ }
+ open(TPLATE, "< template")
+ or die("Could not open template file");
+ while (<TPLATE>) # subloop for template file
+ { &putout; }
+ close(TPLATE);
+ $_ = $remainder;
+ &putout;
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 19]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+}
+close(IN);
+
+# Now replace filesize variables without altering total byte count.
+select( (select(WORK), $| = 1) [0] ); # first flush output so we
+if (($size = -s WORK) < 100000) # can get final file size
+ { $scale = 0; } # and set scale factor or
+else { # compute it, keeping width of size field low
+ for ($scale = 0; $size >= 1000; $scale++)
+ { $size /= 1024; }
+}
+$filesize = sprintf "%7.7s %sbytes",
+ $size, (" ", "K", "M", "G", "T", "P") [$scale];
+
+foreach $pos (@offsets) { # loop through saved size locations
+ seek WORK, $pos, 0; # read the line found there
+ $_ = <WORK>;
+ # $filesize must be exactly as wide as "(--mbfilesize)"
+ s/\(--mbfilesize\)/$filesize/g;
+ seek WORK, $pos, 0; # rewrite it with replacement
+ print WORK;
+}
+
+close(WORK);
+rename($workfile, "$filename")
+ or die("Could not rename \"$workfile\" to \"$filename\"");
+# ---- end of Perl script ----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 20]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+10. Author's Address
+
+ John A. Kunze
+ Center for Knowledge Management
+ University of California, San Francisco
+ 530 Parnassus Ave, Box 0840
+ San Francisco, CA 94143-0840, USA
+
+ Fax: +1 415-476-4653
+ EMail: jak@ckm.ucsf.edu
+
+
+11. References
+
+ [AAT] Art and Architecture Thesaurus, Getty Information
+ Institute.
+ http://shiva.pub.getty.edu/aat_browser/
+
+ [AC] The A-Core: Metadata about Content Metadata, (in
+ progress)
+ http://metadata.net/ac/draft-iannella-admin-01.txt
+
+ [DC1] Weibel, S., Kunze, J., Lagoze, C. and M. Wolf,
+ "Dublin Core Metadata for Resource Discovery", RFC
+ 2413, September 1998.
+ ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2413.txt
+
+ [DCHOME] Dublin Core Initiative Home Page.
+ http://purl.org/DC/
+
+ [DCPROJECTS] Projects Using Dublin Core Metadata.
+ http://purl.org/DC/projects/index.htm
+
+ [DCT1] Dublin Core Type List 1, DC Type Working Group,
+ March 1999.
+ http://www.loc.gov/marc/typelist.html
+
+ [freeWAIS-sf2.0] The enhanced freeWAIS distribution, February 1999.
+ http://ls6-www.cs.uni-
+ dortmund.de/ir/projects/freeWAIS-sf/
+
+ [GLIMPSE] Glimpse Home Page.
+ http://glimpse.cs.arizona.edu/
+
+ [HARVEST] Harvest Web Indexing.
+ http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/harvest/
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 21]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+ [HTML4.0] Hypertext Markup Language 4.0 Specification, April
+ 1998.
+ http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/
+
+ [ISEARCH] Isearch Resources Page.
+ http://www.etymon.com/Isearch/
+
+ [ISO639-2] Code for the representation of names of languages,
+ 1996.
+ http://www.indigo.ie/egt/standards/iso639/iso639-2-
+ en.html
+
+ [ISO8601] ISO 8601:1988(E), Data elements and interchange
+ formats -- Information interchange -- Representation
+ of dates and times, International Organization for
+ Standardization, June 1988.
+ http://www.iso.ch/markete/8601.pdf
+
+ [MARC] USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data, US Library of
+ Congress.
+ http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/marc.html
+
+ [PERL] L. Wall, T. Christiansen, R. Schwartz, Programming
+ Perl, Second Edition, O'Reilly, 1996.
+
+ [RDF] Resource Description Framework Model and Syntax
+ Specification, February 1999.
+ http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/
+
+ [RFC1766] Alvestrand, H., "Tags for the Identification of
+ Languages", RFC 1766, March 1996.
+ ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1766.txt
+
+ [SWISH-E] Simple Web Indexing System for Humans - Enhanced.
+ http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/SWISH-E/
+
+ [TGN] Thesaurus of Geographic Names, Getty Information
+ Institute.
+ http://shiva.pub.getty.edu/tgn_browser/
+
+ [WTN8601] W3C Technical Note - Profile of ISO 8601 Date and
+ Time Formats.
+ http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime
+
+ [XML] Extensible Markup Language (XML).
+ http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 22]
+
+RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
+
+
+12. Full Copyright Statement
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
+
+ This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
+ others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
+ or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
+ and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
+ kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
+ included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
+ document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
+ the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
+ Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
+ developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
+ copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
+ followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
+ English.
+
+ The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
+ revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
+
+ This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
+ "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
+ TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
+ BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
+ HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
+ MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Acknowledgement
+
+ Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
+ Internet Society.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kunze Informational [Page 23]
+