The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an organization dedicated to promoting the widespread adoption of metadata standards and vocabularies for describing resources that enable more intelligent electronic records management systems. In February 2003, the work of DCMI was approved and published as ISO 15836, The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set.

Before there was Dublin Core, AIIM produced ANSI/AIIM TR40, Suggested Index Fields for Documents in Electronic Image Management (EIM) Environments, that describes the index elements needed for documents that are to be a part of a digital document imaging system.

Another important metadata standard, Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform, standardizes the definition, creation, and processing of metadata by allowing users to embed the data about the file in the file itself.

The Worldwide Web Consortium metadata activity group produced the Resource Description Framework. RDF integrates a variety of applications from Web-based directories to syndication and aggregation of news, software, and content.

To read more about the Dublin Core and its special place in AIIM’s approach to electronic records management, read this article by AIIM’s director of Standards and Content, Betsy Fanning.