IEEE 1484 Learning Objects Metadata (IEEE LOM)

IEEE 1484 Learning Objects Metadata (IEEE LOM)
*IEEE 1484 LOM mappings to Dublin Core: Learning Object Metadata: Draft Document v3.6, IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC), 5 September 1999 <http://ltsc.ieee.org/doc/wg12/LOM3.6.html>

**Mappings by Stuart A. Sutton.

Dublin Core
Element Label

IEEE 1484
Element
Scheme Description

Contributor Lifecycle.Contributor.Entity*
[IEEE 2.3.2] vCard “Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role (2.3.1) is not equal to Author or Publisher, then this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Contributor. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”

Coverage General.Coverage*
[IEEE 1.7] “The spatial or temporal characteristics of the intellectual content of the resource.”

Creator Lifecycle.Contributor.Entity*
[IEEE 2.3.2] vCard “Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role (2.3.1) is Author, then the entity is typically a person and this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Creator. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”

Date Lifecycle.Contribute.Date*
[IEEE 2.3.3] ISO 8601 “The date of the contribution.” [NOTE: IEEE dates consist of two components: (1) ‘DateTime’ “expressed as per ISO8601 standard” and (2) ‘Description“ expressed as a textual “[d]escription of the date ... [e.g.,] circa 1300 BC, Fall Semester 1999”]

Description Gereral.Description*
[IEEE 1.5] “A textual description of the content of the resource.”

Format Technical.Format*
[IEEE 4.1] MIME type or ‘non-digital’ “Technical data type of the resource.”

Identifier General.Identifier*
[IEEE 1.1]
and/or
Technical.Location**
[IEEE 4.3] General.Identifier: “A unique label for the resource.” [NOTE: “This is a reserved element that cannot be used.”]
Technical.Location: “A location or a method that resolves to a location of the resource. Preferable Location first.”

Language General.Language*
[IEEE 1.4] ISO639 & ISO3166 “The human language of the resource. LanguageID =Langcode('-'Subcode)*, with Langcode a two-letter language code as defined by ISO639 and Subcode a country code from ISO3166.”

Publisher Lifecycle.Contribute.Entity*
[IEEE 2.3.2] vCard “Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role equals Publisher, then the entity is typically an organisation and this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Publisher. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”

Relation Relation*
[IEEE 7]
[IEEE 7.1 & IEEE 7.2.2] “Features of the resource in relationship to other resources.” [NOTE: ‘Relation’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. An unqualified mapping would probably be ‘Relation.Resource.Description’ [7.2.2] with ‘Relation.Kind’ [7.1] added for a qualified mapping with a ‘scheme’ taken from a controlled vocabulary.]

Rights Rights*
[IEEE 6] “Conditions of use of the resource. Intent is to reuse results of ongoing work in the Intellectual Property Right and e-commerce communities. This category currently provides the absolute minimum level of detail only.” [NOTE: ‘Rights’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. An unqualified mapping would probably be ‘Rights.Description’.]

Source Relation*
[IEEE 7] “Features of the resource in relationship to other resources.” [NOTE: ‘Relation’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. A mapping for ‘DC.Source’ would probably be ‘Relation.Description’ with a ‘Relation.Kind’ of IsBasedOn added for a qualified element (term selected from the Dublin Core best practices list as enumerated in the IEEE documentation).]

Subject General.Keywords*
[IEEE 1.6]
and/or
Classification.Keywords**
[IEEE 9.4]
and/or
Classification*
[IEEE 9]
[IEEE 9.1, IEEE 9.2.1, & IEEE 9.2.2.2] Free text,
Various ‘Schemes’ General.Keywords: “Keywords describing the resource. It is strongly recommended not to use this element for characteristics that can be described by other elements [e.g., a subject ‘Purpose’ in ‘Classification’].”
Classification.Keywords: “Keywords describing the characteristics, most relevant first.”
Classification: “Description of a characteristic of the resource by entries in classifications.” [NOTE: IEEE1484 LOM ‘Classification’ group can support mapping to ‘DC.Subject’ when ‘Classification.Purpose’ [9.1] is subject. ‘Classification’ supports identification of a subject ‘scheme’ by means of the ‘Classification.TaxonPath.Source’ [9.2.1 “A specific classification”] and the content itself in ‘Classification.TaxonPath.Taxon.Entry’ [9.2.2.2 “The textual label of the taxon”].]

Title General.Title*
[IEEE 1.2] “Name given to the resource. The title can be an already existing one or it may be created by the indexer ad hoc.”

Type Educational.LearningResourceType*
[IEEE 5.2] IEEE “Specific kind of resource, most dominant kind first. [O]pen vocabulary with best practice {Exercise, Simulation, Questionnaire, Diagram, Figure, Graph, Index, Slide, Table, Narrative Text, Exam, Experiment, ProblemStatement, SelfAssesment}.”

NOTE: IEEE 1484 LOM elements have a category and hierarchy-sequence numbering system (see the IEEE numbers in the table above). Missing numbers from the following table are elements that can be found in the Dublin Core mapping table above.

IEEE Group/Category	IEEE Element Label	Scheme	Description
General–1			Context-independent features of the resource
1.3.1	CatalogEntry.Catalogue		[CatalogEntry Definition: “Designation given to the resource.”] “Indication of the source of the following string value.”
1.3.2	CatalogEntry.Entry		“Actual string value” [NOTE: “This element may be used as a functional replacement for the currently reserved element Identifier (1.1).”]
1.8	Structure	IEEE	“Underlying organizational structure of the resource. [R]estricted vocabulary: {Collection, Mixed, Linear, Hierarchical, Networked, Branched, Parceled, Atomic}.”
1.9	AggregationLevel	IEEE	“The functional size of the resource. [A single value] 0..3”
LifeCycle–2			“Features related to the life cycle of the resource.”
2.1	Version		“The edition of the resource.”
2.2	Status	IEEE	“The condition the resource is in. [R]estricted vocabulary: {Draft, Final, Revised, Unavailable}.”
2.3.1	Contribute.Role	IEEE	[NOTE: See Dublin Core ‘Creator’, ‘Contributor’ & ‘Publisher’ in the first table above. This IEEE element contains ‘Role’ information for instances of ‘Contributor’ to the resource.] “Kind of contribution. [B]est practice list: {Author, Publisher, Unknown, Initiator, Terminator, Validator, Editor, Graphical Designer, Technical Implementer, Content Provider, Technical Validator, Educational Validator, Script Writer, Instructional Designer}.” It is clear that the IEEE ‘Contributor.Role’ could be expressed in a ‘Role’ qualified “Agent” element in DC.
MetaMetaData–3			“Features of the description rather then the resource.”
3.1	Identifier		“A unique label for the metadata. Reserved”
3.2.1	CatalogEntry.Catalogue		[CatalogEntry Definition: “Designation given to the metadata instance.”] “Indication of the source of the following string value.”
3.2.2	CatalogEntry.Entry		“Actual string value”
3.3.1	Contribute.Role		“Kind of contribution” [NOTE: Designation of the role of the persons or organisations contributing to the metadata.]
3.3.2	Contribute.Entity	vCard	“Entity or entities involved [in contributing to the metadata]”
3.3.3	Contribute.Date	ISO8601	“The date of the contribution [to the metadata]” [NOTE: IEEE dates consist of two components: (1) ‘DateTime’ “expressed as per ISO8601 standard” and (2) ‘Description“ expressed as a textual “[d]escription of the date ... [e.g.,] circa 1300 BC, Fall Semester 1999”]
3.4	MetadataScheme		“Names the structure of the metadata (this includes version).”
3.5	Language	ISO639 & ISO3166	“Language of the metadata instance. This is the default language for all LangString values.” [NOTE: Languages are expressed as “LanguageID =Langcode('-'Subcode)*, with Langcode a two-letter language code as defined by ISO639 and Subcode a country code from ISO3166.”
Technical–4			“Technical Features of the Resource”
4.2	Size		“The size of the digital resource in bytes. Only the digits ‘0’..‘9’ should be used; the unit is bytes, not MBytes, GB, etc. This refers to the actual size of the resource, and not to the size of a compressed version of the resource.”
4.4.1	Requirements.Type	IEEE	[Definition of Requirements (4.4): “Needs in order to access the resource. If there are multiple requirements, then the logical connector is AND.”] “Type of requirement. [O]pen vocabulary with best practice: {Operating System, Browser}.”
4.4.2	Requirements.Name	IEEE	“Name of the required item. [I]f Type=‘Operating System’, then best practice list: {PC-DOS, MS-Windows, MacOS, Unix, Multi-OS, Other, None}. [I]f Type=‘Browser’ then best practice list: {Any, Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera}. [I]f other type then open vocabulary.”
4.4.3	Requirements.MinimumVersion		“Lowest version of the required item.”
4.4.4	Requirements.MaximumVersion		“Highest version of the required item.”
4.5	InstallationRemarks		“Description on how to install the resource.”
4.6	OtherPlatformRequirements		“Information about other software and hardware requirements.”
4.7	Duration		“Time a continuous resource takes when played at intended speed, in seconds.”
Educational–5			“Educational or pedagogic features of the resource.”
5.1	InteractivityType	IEEE	“The type of interactivity supported by the resouce. [R]estricted vocabulary: {Active, Expositive, Mixed, Undefined}.”
5.3	InteractivityLevel	IEEE	“Level of activity between an end user and a resource. [Levels] 0,1,2,3,4.”
5.4	SemanticDensity	IEEE	“Subjective measure of the resource’s usefulness as compared to its size or duration. [Levels] 0,1,2,3,4.”
5.5	IntendedEndUserRole	IEEE	“Normal user of the resource, most dominant first. [R]estricted vocabulary: {Teacher, Author, Learner, Manager}. A learner works with a resourcein order to learn something. An author creates or publishes resource. A manager manages the delivery of the resource, e.g., a university or college. The document for a manager is typically a curriculum.”
5.6	Learning Context	IEEE	“The typical kind of learners. Open vocabulary with best practice: {Primary Education, Secondary Education, Higher Education, University First Cycle, University Second Cycle, University Postgrade, Technical School First Cycle, Technical School Second Cycle, Professional Formation, Continuous Formation, Vocational Training, Other}.”
5.7	TypicalAgeRange		“Age of the typical user.”
5.8	Difficulty	IEEE	“How hard it is to work through the resource for the typical target audience. [Difficulty=]0,1,2,3,4.”
5.9	TypicalLearningTime		“Approximate or typical time it takes to work with the resource.”
5.10	Description		“Comments on how the resource is to be used.”
5.11	Language		“The human language used by the typical intended user of the resource. LanguageID =Langcode('-'Subcode)*, with Langcode a two-letter language code as defined by ISO639 and Subcode a country code from ISO3166.”
Rights–6			“Conditions of use of the resource.”
6.1	Cost	IEEE	“Whether use of the resource requires payment. [R]estricted vocabulary: {yes, no}.”
6.2	CopyrightAnd OtherRestrictions	IEEE	“Whether copyright or other restrictions apply to the use of the resource. [R]estricted vocabulary: {yes, no}.”
Relation–7			“Features of the resource in relation to other resources.”
7.2.1	Relation.Resource.Identifier		“Unique identifier of the other resource.”
Annotation–8			“Comments on the educational use of the resource.”
8.1	Person	vCard	“Annotator”
8.2	Date	ISO8601	“Date that the annotation was created.”
8.3	Description		“The content of the annotation.”
Classification–9			“Description of a characteristic of the resource by entries in classifications.”
9.2.2.1	TaxonPath.Taxon.ID		“The identifier of the taxon in the source classification.”
9.3	Description		“A textual description of the characteristics being described.”

Dublin Core Element Label	IEEE 1484 Element	Scheme	Description
Contributor	Lifecycle.Contributor.Entity* [IEEE 2.3.2]	vCard	“Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role (2.3.1) is not equal to Author or Publisher, then this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Contributor. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”
Coverage	General.Coverage* [IEEE 1.7]		“The spatial or temporal characteristics of the intellectual content of the resource.”
Creator	Lifecycle.Contributor.Entity* [IEEE 2.3.2]	vCard	“Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role (2.3.1) is Author, then the entity is typically a person and this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Creator. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”
Date	Lifecycle.Contribute.Date* [IEEE 2.3.3]	ISO 8601	“The date of the contribution.” [NOTE: IEEE dates consist of two components: (1) ‘DateTime’ “expressed as per ISO8601 standard” and (2) ‘Description“ expressed as a textual “[d]escription of the date ... [e.g.,] circa 1300 BC, Fall Semester 1999”]
Description	Gereral.Description* [IEEE 1.5]		“A textual description of the content of the resource.”
Format	Technical.Format* [IEEE 4.1]	MIME type or ‘non-digital’	“Technical data type of the resource.”
Identifier	General.Identifier* [IEEE 1.1] and/or Technical.Location** [IEEE 4.3]		General.Identifier: “A unique label for the resource.” [NOTE: “This is a reserved element that cannot be used.”] Technical.Location: “A location or a method that resolves to a location of the resource. Preferable Location first.”
Language	General.Language* [IEEE 1.4]	ISO639 & ISO3166	“The human language of the resource. LanguageID =Langcode('-'Subcode)*, with Langcode a two-letter language code as defined by ISO639 and Subcode a country code from ISO3166.”
Publisher	Lifecycle.Contribute.Entity* [IEEE 2.3.2]	vCard	“Persons or organisations contributing to the resource (includes creation, edits and publication). If [Lifecycle.Contribute.]Role equals Publisher, then the entity is typically an organisation and this element corresponds with the Dublin Core element DC.Publisher. If the entity is an organisation, then it is typically a university department, company, agency, institute, etc. under whose responsibility the contribution was made.”
Relation	Relation* [IEEE 7] [IEEE 7.1 & IEEE 7.2.2]		“Features of the resource in relationship to other resources.” [NOTE: ‘Relation’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. An unqualified mapping would probably be ‘Relation.Resource.Description’ [7.2.2] with ‘Relation.Kind’ [7.1] added for a qualified mapping with a ‘scheme’ taken from a controlled vocabulary.]
Rights	Rights* [IEEE 6]		“Conditions of use of the resource. Intent is to reuse results of ongoing work in the Intellectual Property Right and e-commerce communities. This category currently provides the absolute minimum level of detail only.” [NOTE: ‘Rights’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. An unqualified mapping would probably be ‘Rights.Description’.]
Source	Relation* [IEEE 7]		“Features of the resource in relationship to other resources.” [NOTE: ‘Relation’ in IEEE 1484 LOM is a category or group of metadata elements and does not directly map to DC. A mapping for ‘DC.Source’ would probably be ‘Relation.Description’ with a ‘Relation.Kind’ of IsBasedOn added for a qualified element (term selected from the Dublin Core best practices list as enumerated in the IEEE documentation).]
Subject	General.Keywords* [IEEE 1.6] and/or Classification.Keywords [IEEE 9.4] and/or** Classification* [IEEE 9] [IEEE 9.1, IEEE 9.2.1, & IEEE 9.2.2.2]	Free text, Various ‘Schemes’	General.Keywords: “Keywords describing the resource. It is strongly recommended not to use this element for characteristics that can be described by other elements [e.g., a subject ‘Purpose’ in ‘Classification’].” Classification.Keywords: “Keywords describing the characteristics, most relevant first.” Classification: “Description of a characteristic of the resource by entries in classifications.” [NOTE: IEEE1484 LOM ‘Classification’ group can support mapping to ‘DC.Subject’ when ‘Classification.Purpose’ [9.1] is subject. ‘Classification’ supports identification of a subject ‘scheme’ by means of the ‘Classification.TaxonPath.Source’ [9.2.1 “A specific classification”] and the content itself in ‘Classification.TaxonPath.Taxon.Entry’ [9.2.2.2 “The textual label of the taxon”].]
Title	General.Title* [IEEE 1.2]		“Name given to the resource. The title can be an already existing one or it may be created by the indexer ad hoc.”
Type	Educational.LearningResourceType* [IEEE 5.2]	IEEE	“Specific kind of resource, most dominant kind first. [O]pen vocabulary with best practice {Exercise, Simulation, Questionnaire, Diagram, Figure, Graph, Index, Slide, Table, Narrative Text, Exam, Experiment, ProblemStatement, SelfAssesment}.”