A Dublin Core Application Profile in the Agricultural Domain

This report outlines a proposed metadata framework for resource discovery of agricultural resources, and in particular to describe information resources in agricultural sciences. The overall work is the result of a collaborative effort between a number of partners in the agricultural community and the Library and Documentation Systems Division of FAO. The endeavour is formally referred to as the " Agricultural Metadata Standards Initiative " (Agstandards) 1. It is based upon the elements and qualifiers proposed by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). 1.0 Introduction Resource description has emerged as a challenge that impedes resource discovery even though network technologies have lowered other challenges including geographical barriers. This is because resource discovery varies depending on the structure, type and content of resource and with the interests of the information keepers. Further, complex needs of users require domain specific information systems to be queried in parallel to enable access to distributed information archives. To meet such demands, there is a need for a framework that would allow information access regardless of the above-mentioned barriers. The Dublin core initiative is a potential example of such a format because of its characteristics that distinguish it as a prime candidate for resource description and primary resource discovery. The report first provides the overall context for the metadata framework; why the standard is needed; how the work was done, and then offers thoughts on the way forward from here. Section 4 provides the elements and qualifiers of the proposed standard presented in a hierarchical structure. The hierarchical structure offers a flexible framework to implement the proposed standard at different levels of granularity, depending on the how rich each metadata source is. In its simplest form, metadata can even be supplied at the most general level of 13 core fields. A more detailed description of all the elements and the qualifiers, including information on definitions, rules, and data typing is presented in a paper at the FAO website 2. The overall objective of the agricultural metadata framework is to define a low-barrier and richer interoperability layers using emerging standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of agricultural content. The metadata set consists of core elements and qualifiers that are generic to the description of all agricultural information resources. The specific goals are: 1. To facilitate the discovery of agricultural information resources; 2. To assist the management of resources by the owners; 3. To enable interoperability …