DRAFT v0.9 03 Feb 2004

THE ELEMENTS
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Descriptions about the
CONTENT...

Descriptions related to
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY...

Descriptions identifying
a media asset's
INSTANTIATION...

Descriptions beyond
the PBCore Metadata

About the Need
About the Metadata Elements
The PBCore is in Draft Form

The Need for Public Broadcasting Metadata

As public broadcasting endeavors to maintain value and values in a dramatically altered media environment, we know we must do three things: develop and deliver content across multiple platforms, strengthen our editorial and service partnerships, and engage in more efficient methods of conducting our new and legacy activities.

The recent convergence of IT capabilities with those of radio and television broadcasting has caused us and our constituents to appreciate that our prized editorial output (video clips, audio interviews, transcripts, etc.) can be understood as a series of digital assets, that can be identified, exchanged and distributed using an advanced digital infrastructure. Our ability to network – to exchange rich media content – within and across our newsrooms, production suites, satellite and terrestrial distribution systems, etc., and even with our educational and community partners (schools, libraries, museums) has never been greater. We have been afforded a tremendous opportunity for cultural relevance and operational efficiency.

In a public broadcasting system made up of hundreds of independent licensees, the challenges of organizing universal processes for asset appraisal, digitization, rights clearance, preservation, etc. are myriad, perhaps overwhelming. We did understand, however, that the foundation of any future effort in this direction would be a single, shared protocol for identifying and describing our rich media assets.

The Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project is a cross-organizational, multi-disciplined effort to establish a standard for all public broadcasting content (radio and television), in order that metadata might be more easily exchanged between colleagues, software systems, institutions, community partners, individual citizens, etc. The Project will be a “touchstone,” a single, streamlined standard to which other database structures, including those of PBS, NPR, major producing stations, and other asset/content management systems will be “mapped.” It can also be used as a guide for the onset of an archival or asset management process at an individual station or institution.

 

The PBCore Metadata Elements

The PBCore Metadata Descriptors are called "Elements." Currently we have 58 Elements, many of which are "Refined Elements" or "Elements with Qualifiers." Qualified Elements are recognized by a ".extension" (for example, "Title.Alternative").

We have gathered the PBCore Elements into three clusters; each cluster houses elements of a similar nature...

1. CONTENT...
   20 elements describing the actual intellectual content of a media asset or resource.
2. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY...
   9 elements related to the creation, creators and usage of a media asset or resource.
3. INSTANTIATION...
   29 elements that identify the nature of the media asset as it exists in some form or format in the physical world or digitally.

To review detailed information about an Element or Qualified Element, click on its name from the list of elements in the left hand column of a page. There you will see outlined the attributes for an element.

 

The PBCore is in Draft Form

The PBCore Metadata Elements are currently in a preliminary version. They should be considered in transition, well-formed but incomplete, and will be frequently updated and corrected.

This website describing the PBCore Metadata Elements is made available so that potential users and other interested parties can get a preliminary look at the PBCore in order to make comments and recommendations.

Test implementations of the PBCore are underway in order to determine how understanable and useful the metadata elements are in selected applications and implementations. The results will be published through the home website for the Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project.