New and Emerging Specs and Standards (August 2019)

ISO/IEC TR 19583-1:2019  Information technology -- Concepts and usage of metadata -- Part 1: Metadata concepts

Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32  Data management and interchange

“This document describes the basic concept of metadata, and its relationship to both data and metamodels. Metadata is defined as “data that defines and describes other data”. Whether any piece of data is seen as metadata or just data depends on the context. These contexts can be classified into three distinct groups: structural metadata, descriptive metadata, and administrative metadata. The focus of this document is the first of these groups: the structural metadata used within data management. For any data to be useful or shareable the meaning of the data (the semantics), the data type and format of the data (the syntax) and the relationship of the data to other data (the structure) must be known.”

Release of 2019-2020 Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement|

“The goal of the Recommended Formats has always been to provide useful information furthering the shared goal of ensuring the preservation of and long-term access to creative works.  By providing up-to-date information about the file types, physical and technical characteristics and associated metadata which support these worthy goals, the Statement hopes to provide the building blocks upon which libraries can build their collections, now and for the future. This version provides some valuable updates to the sections on Moving Image Works and Audio Works in particular. All feedback is welcome.”Welcome to EditPad.org - your online plain text editor. Enter or paste your text here. To download and save it, click on the button below.

Seven Concerns Open Source Should Worry About: Part 2 – Antitrust

The second of a series of blog posts on The Standards Blog by Andy Updegrove, about unintended negative effects of free and open source software (FOSS) development. This posting concerns the possibility that regulators might take a closer look at open source developments in terms of antitrust. "Although the emphasis varies country by country, generally speaking the antitrust laws in the United States and competition law in Europe exist to encourage competition. The reasons are several. One is that where multiple product and service offerings exist, consumers have more choices. More choices tend to drive costs lower, too. Competition also drives innovation, leading to more rapid development of new technologies, features, and capabilities as head-to-head competitors strive to come up with ways to differentiate their products." Updegrove will continue to pen posts describing issues to help "consider how to make the FOSS-based world of the future a better, safer, more innovative place than it will be if its further evolution is left to the vagaries of market forces and human nature.'