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Because there are already so many standards, the emphasis
of the PRISM group was to recommend a coherent set of
existing standards. New elements were only to be defined
as needed to extend that set of standards to meet the
specific needs of the magazine publishing scenarios.
The PRISM specification covers the relationship between
PRISM and other specifications in detail. Only well-known
specifications are listed on this page:
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
PRISM metadata documents are an application of XML
[W3C-XML]. Basic concepts in PRISM are represented using
the element/attribute markup model of XML. The PRISM
specification makes use of additional XML concepts,
such as namespaces[W3C-XML-NS].
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
The Resource Description Framework [W3C-RDF] defines
a model and XML syntax to represent and transport metadata.
PRISM uses a simplified profile of RDF for its metadata
framework. Thus, PRISM compliant applications will generate
metadata that can be processed by RDF processing applications.
However, the converse is not necessarily true. The behavior
of applications processing input that does not conform
to this specification is not defined.
Dublin Core (DC)
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [DCMI] established
a set of metadata to describe electronic resources in
a manner similar to a library card catalog. The Dublin
Core includes 15 general elements designed to characterize
resources. PRISM uses the Dublin Core and its relation
types as the foundation for its metadata. PRISM also
recommends practices for using the Dublin Core vocabulary.
NewsML
NewsML [IPTC-NEWSML] is a specification from the International
Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) aimed at the
transmission of news stories and the automation of newswire
services. PRISM focuses on describing content and how
it may be reused. While there is some overlap between
the two standards, PRISM and NewsML are largely complementary.
PRISM’s controlled vocabularies have been specified
in such a way that they can be used in NewsML. The PRISM
working group and the IPTC are working together to investigate
a common format and metadata vocabulary to satisfy the
needs of the members of both organizations.
News Industry Text Format (NITF)
NITF [IPTC-NITF] is another IPTC specification. NITF
provides a DTD designed to mark up news stories. PRISM
is a metadata vocabulary designed to describe resources
and their relationship to other resources. Although
NITF has some elements to specify metadata and header
information that are duplicated in PRISM, the two standards
are largely complementary. Where there is overlap, such
as with PRISM’s inline markup, it is noted in the
specification.
Information and Content Exchange
(ICE)
The Information and Content Exchange protocol manages
and automates syndication relationships, data transfer,
and results analysis. PRISM complements ICE by providing
an industry-standard vocabulary to automate content
aggregation processes. To quote from the ICE specification
[ICE]:
Thus, there is a natural synergy between ICE and PRISM.
ICE provides the protocol for syndication processes
and PRISM provides a description of the resource being
syndicated, which can be used to personalize the delivery
of content to tightly-focused target markets.
RSS (RDF Site Summary) 1.0
RSS (RDF Site Summary) 1.0 [RSS] is a lightweight
format for syndication and descriptive metadata. Like
PRISM, RSS is an XML application, conforms to the W3C's
RDF Specification. A natural synergy also exists between
RSS and PRISM. RSS provides the protocol for light weight
syndication processes and PRISM provides a description
of the resource being syndicated.
eXtensible Rights Markup Language
(XrML)
XrMLTM, [XRML], developed by ContentGuard, Inc., is
a general-purpose, XML-based specification grammar for
expressing rights and conditions associated with digital
content, resources, and services. The PRISM Rights Language
(PRL) may seem close to XrML in that both are "rights"
languages. However, the two have different goals. PRL
assumes that the sender and receiver of a PRISM communication
already have a business arrangement that is specified
in a contract. Thus, it provides a standard means of
expressing common terms and conditions rather than enforcement
of those conditions. The most important functionality
required from PRISM’s rights elements is to reduce
the costs associated with clearing rights, not to enable
secure commerce between unknown parties. PRISM specifies
as little as possible about the internal behavior of
systems, which is the focus of XrML. The PRISM specification
does not address the issue of rights enforcement mechanisms
as XrML does.
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