Chapter 2: Metadata Models of the World Wide Web

Abstract

The Semantic Web, in standards being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, is a new way of defining metadata for use and reuse in a networked environment. In this chapter of “RDA Vocabularies for a Twenty-First-Century Data Environment,” we'll discuss the definition of metadata and how it involves the creation of domain models (the things and relationships that the metadata will describe) and ontologies (the vocabularies that the metadata will use). The use of standard identifiers, called Uniform Resource Identifiers, creates unambiguous identities for data and statements about data.