The Metadata Forum

*Image details at end of post

A long time ago in a faraway place, ‘DC’ was associated in my mind with the word ‘Washington’. Aged 7, I was very proud to be the only kid in my class who knew that ‘DC’ in ‘Washington DC’ stood for ‘District of Columbia’ I wasn’t particularly bright, but my aunty had a friend who had moved there, so it stuck in my head. I had no idea what it actually meant,  I’d just  rote-learned the words.

Time moves on, and as anyone who has tangled with metadata at an level can tell you, these days ‘DC’ has only one meaning for me – Dublin Core. When first exposed to DC,  I often had  that same feeling I’d had, aged 7,  of parroting things I had heard or read. Phrases and acronyms zipped around in my head, (simple, qualified, DCMI, Core (why core?!?), Dublin (and was there any Guinness?) ISO Standard 15836, NISO Standard Z39.85-2007, and on and on) accompanied by a vague feeling of panic and I longed for the certainty I’d had in my life when ‘DC’ meant ‘District of Columbia’.

Then one day I’d had enough. I decided I was going to try and find out what this DC stuff was all about. I started with some basic facts, working on the principle that the more you know, the less there is to fear. Tackling the ‘Dublin’ and ‘Core’ bit, I found nothing too scary. ‘Dublin’ was because the first workshop where DC was discussed was held in Dublin, Ohio, USA. Images of metadata being discussed over pints of Guinness along the Liffey vanished at once.  ‘Core’ was even more illuminating. The concept of a ‘core’  metadata elements set that can be expended is at the heart of DC. Of course, this led to a realisation that Simple DC was a basic, pared-down set of 15 elements and Qualified DC was about expanding that core element set and making it more flexible. Simple! Well, maybe, maybe not, but that’s a story yet to be told…

And it’s because of that story that I’m revisiting my early experiences with DC.  Over the next few weeks I’m going to be re-looking at DC and the work of the DCMI from a practical perspective. I want to see what’s happening on the ground with DC, how people are using it or not using it, what works and what doesn’t. When the Metadata Forum launched, I asked people to bring me their ‘metadata hopes, dreams and fears’, and DC seems to fit into all three categories. If you love DC, loath it or are just plain baffled, let me know and I’ll incorporate your questions and experiences into the DC posts, and I’m also working on a Forum meeting focussed on DC.

So wish me ‘Bon Voyage’ and watch out here on the blog for postcards along the way…

*Image from calsidyrose via Flickr, used under CC license.