Framing an Architecture for Metadata on the Web

This email is intended to initiate a framing of ISSUE-63, and to satisfy ACTION-254:
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Proposed Architecture for Metadata on the Web

Various W3C specifications (as well as specs from other organizations) contain the notion of representing "metadata". While the word "metadata" has many broad definitions, for the purposes of this discussion, it's proposed to consider the application of semantics -- meaning -- specifically to the description of network resources and data. If a URI identifies a resource, metadata describes a resource. While the scope of "metadata" is ambiguous, at its core, it is necessary for a metadata model to clearly address the common metadata of
There are a number of W3C work products and questions which touch on metadata and would benefit from an architectural approach to metadata. This issue is to develop a framework for approaching metadata which allows development and growth in a coherent way of:

* Metadata model: what is the "data model" for typical metadata applications - the datatypes of the endpoints
* Metadata serialization: how can metadata be encoded in a representation system, be it RDF or something else
* Metadata vocabularies:  what are appropriate vocabularies for describing various media objects and network services? What is the process by which new vocabularies can or should be developed, described, extended or changed?
* Metadata linking: What are the various ways in which metadata can be associated with "data" or other resources? Link relationships, protocol elements, mechanisms for embedding metadata in various kinds of data.

These four architectural perspectives interact with each other, of course.

An architectural approach to metadata for the web might review past and current W3C work on metadata look at existing practice around metadata on the web, web content, security issues of trust, the process for updating metadata, the issues around resolving conflicts, overlaps, updates to metadata, determining  origin and authority for metadata and so forth.

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Larry

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http://larry.masinter.net