Changes between Version 81 and Version 82 of CMDI 1.2/Specification

Timestamp:

12/01/15 08:09:25 (8 years ago)

Author:

Menzo Windhouwer

Comment:

First versions of the Introduction and the History sections

CMDI 1.2/Specification

@@ -10 +10 @@
 
 == Introduction ==
-The goal of the ''Component Metadata Infrastructure (CMDI)'' specification...
-
-'''TODO'''
+Many researchers, from the humanities and other domains, have a strong need to study resources in close detail. Nowadays more and more of these resources are available online. To be able to find these resources, they are described with metadata. And these metadata records are collected and made available via central catalogues. Often, resource providers want to include specific properties of the resource in the metadata. The purpose of catalogues will be more generic and addresses a broader target audience. It is hard to strike the balance between these two ends of the spectrum with one metadata schema, and mismatches can negatively impact the quality of metadata provided. The goal of the ''Component Metadata Infrastructure'' (CMDI) is to provide a flexible mechanism to build resource specific metadata schemas out of shared components and semantics.
+
+In CMDI the metadata lifecycle starts with the need of a metadata modeller to create a dedicated metadata profile for a specific type of resources. The modeller can browse and search a registry for components and profiles that are suitable or come close to meet her requirements. A component groups together metadata elements that belong together and can be potentially reused as a group in a different context. Components can also group other components. The component registry already contains many of these  general components. And these can be reused as they are or be adapted, i.e., add or remove some metadata elements and/or components. Also completely new components can be created to model the unique aspects of the resources under consideration. All the needed components are combined into one profile specific for the type of resources. Components, elements and values in this profile are linked to a semantic description, a concept, to make their meaning explicit. In the end metadata creators can create records for specific resources that comply with the profile relevant for the resource type, and these records can be provided to local and global catalogues.
+
+This lifecycle needs many systems, which are operating in CMDI, to cooperate well together. To enable this level of cooperation this specification provides in depth descriptions and definitions how CMDI records, components and their representations in XML look like.
 
 === History ===
-'''TODO'''
-
-{{{#!comment
-Not sure if this is the right place for this section
-}}}
+CMDI has been developed in the context of the european CLARIN infrastructure. Already in its preparatory phase, which started in 2007, the infrastructure felt the need for flexibility in the metadata domain as it was confronted with many types of resources which had to be accurately described. For version 1.0 the CMDI toolbox was created, which consists of the XML schema’s and XSLT stylesheets to validate components, profiles and records. Version 1.1 included some small changes and has seen small incremental backwards compatible advances since 2011. this version has been in use all throughout CLARIN’s construction phase. Also CMDI has seen a growing number of tools and infrastructure systems that deal with its records and components and rely on its shared syntax and semantics. This specification describes version 1.2, which adds some functionality and also fixes some issues, but also retains a high level of compatibility to version 1.1.
 
 === Terminology ===