Dublin Core (DC)

Last Updated: December 9, 2016

Definition - What does Dublin Core (DC) mean?

Dublin Core (DC) is an improved digital cataloging system for making search engines much more accurate and efficient. The schema for Dublin Core has many terms for describing resources such as web pages and media like video and images. It also has data regarding physical objects such as CDs, books and even works of art. The main objective of this system is to create a powerful and accommodating catalog involving all web objects. It can be used for better search engine optimization. The metadata generated from this can be used for quick description of web resources and for combining metadata from different standards.

Techopedia explains Dublin Core (DC)

Dublin Core contains 15 classical metadata elements for better cataloguing. These classic elements are called the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set. These classical metadata elements include:

Creator – The creator of the object
Subject – The topic of the object
Title – The name of the object
Publisher – Details about the person who published the object
Description – Short description of the object
Date – The date of publishing
Contributor – Those who have edited the object
Identifier – The identifying agent for the object
Type – Type of the object
Format – The design and arrangement format of the object
Relation – Relation with any other object/objects
Language – The language of the object
Rights – Any kind of copyright information
Coverage – Where is the object in the real world

There are two types of Dublin Cores: Simple Dublin Core and Qualified Dublin Core. The Simple Dublin Core is for simple pairs of attribute-values and uses the 15 classic elements, while Qualified Dublin Core uses three more elements for better definition of the data.