Dublin Core annotations alongside classification metadata

Context and Problem Statement

Business classification and administrative description answer different questions. A classification says which subject area, sensitivity or lifecycle facet applies. A record also needs a title, originator and dates. Reusing a standard for those administrative facts avoids inventing a parallel metadata language, but must not replace the classification model with superficially similar Dublin Core terms.

Considered Options

• Adopt a bounded Dublin Core Terms annotation layer alongside the facet model.
• Use concept labels alone, leaving authorship and publication dates unspecified.
• Admit the entire Dublin Core vocabulary or invent equivalent local properties.

Decision Outcome

Adopt the bounded annotation layer. Classification remains governed by ODR-0049. Dublin Core describes the classification record; it does not supply an alternative business classification system.

Consequences

• Good, because administrative metadata is recognisable to linked-data consumers.
• Good, because a small profile preserves the distinction between record and meaning.
• Bad, because publishers must validate both metadata and classification completeness.
• Neutral, because other Dublin Core uses need their own explicit scope and decision.

Confirmation

Accepted as OPDA modelling method, not a claim that candidate exports already implement these shapes. Delivery requires positive and negative fixtures for every cardinality, datatype and classification obligation below. No source-system council vote, implementation receipt or catalogue deployment is claimed as OPDA evidence.

Rules

R1: Orthogonal layers

The seven-facet framework remains authoritative for classification. A Dublin Core property MUST NOT displace subject area, data classification, governance tier, volatility, regulatory relevance, lifecycle stage or value-chain position. Titles and creators describe a record, not an additional classification axis.

R2: Bounded terms

dct:subject MAY be added on an explicit modeller request, only to reference the SKOS ConceptScheme backing the subject-area facet. Other terms are not implicitly adopted for Category 5; additions require an amendment. This is a local restriction, not a statement that other Dublin Core terms are invalid in the standard.

R3: Reference without importing

Use canonical http://purl.org/dc/terms/ IRIs. Do not emit owl:imports to obtain the vocabulary. Local SHACL contracts enforce cardinality, dates and language-tagged titles. Referencing an external IRI and loading its entire ontology are different acts.

R4: Catalogue boundary

The upstream decision coupled its delivery to a separate DCAT adoption. OPDA’s selected scope does not adopt that catalogue decision or a data-product concern. Consequently this local record does not require an out-of-scope DCAT implementation. If a catalogue profile is adopted later, its metadata dependencies must be delivered coherently; this record cannot be cited as approval for that profile.

R5: Both layers are required

Every resource claiming the Category 5 profile MUST have its title and the complete seven-facet annotation set. A title without facets, or facets without a title, fails that profile. Validate the administrative layer and the facet layer separately so one cannot mask omissions in the other. The seventh facet is value-chain position.

R6: Applicability is not validation

Apply ODR-0037 to local property applicability. Its later correction governs: standard RDFS domain and range retain their entailment semantics. Inclusion hints do not behave as RDFS constraints, and switching a reasoner off does not redefine any vocabulary. SHACL supplies the local delivery-validation contract.

More Information

• Dublin Core Terms
• Source-method record: ODR-0086, pinned revision 67174057e6384b79d0b28b7736fe70a66e112895.

Amendments

• 2026-09-05 — OPDA adaptation. Renumbered and rewritten for the selected modelling scope. Preserved the five-term profile, conditional subject term, orthogonality and seven-facet requirements. Removed unrelated catalogue delivery coupling and source-specific execution history; applied the later property applicability correction rather than carrying forward its obsolete explanation.