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Last updated: 02 October 2009
Appendix A: Abbreviations and acronyms used in e-GIF
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
| 3DES | Treble Data Encryption Standard |
| 3G | Third Generation mobile phones |
| AES | Advance Encryption Algorithm |
| ARK | Archival Resource Key |
| BS | British Standard |
| CESG | Communications-Electronics Security Group, part of GCHQ |
| .csv | Comma Separated Value format |
| DCMI | Dublin Core Metadata Initiative |
| dhtml | Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language |
| DICOM | Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine |
| DNS | Domain name services |
| DOI | Digital object identifier |
| DSA | Digital Signature Algorithm |
| DSDL | Document Schema Definition Language |
| DTV | Digital Television |
| ebXML | Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language |
| EAN.UCC | European Article Number/Uniform Code Council |
| EC | European Commission |
| ECMA | European Computer Manufactures Association |
| EGF | Electronic Government Framework |
| e-GIF | e-Government Interoperability Framework |
| e-GMS | e-Government Metadata Standard |
| DTG | Delivery and Transformation Group (formally e-Government Unit and Office of the e-Envoy) |
| ESP | Encapsulation Security Protocol |
| ETSI | European Telecommunications Standard Institute |
| FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| GCHQ | Government Communications Headquarters |
| GCL | Government Category List |
| GDN | Government Data Network |
| .gif | Graphics Interchange Format |
| GML | Geography Markup Language |
| GNC | GSI Nerve Centre |
| GSI | Government Secure Intranet |
| GUI | Graphic User Interface |
| GUID | Globally Unique Identifier |
| .gz | GZIP compression file format |
| HTML | Hypertext Markup Language |
| HTTP | Hypertext transfer protocols |
| IAG | Information Age Government |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force |
| IMP | Instant Messaging and Presence |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IP-SEC | IP Security Protocol Charter |
| ISBN | International Standard Book Number |
| ISO/IEC | International Standards Organisation |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| .jpg | Joint Photographic Experts Group File Format |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol |
| MD5 | Message Digest 5 |
| MGCP | Media Gateway Control Protocol |
| mp3 | MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Audio Layer 3 |
| MPEG | Moving Picture Experts Group |
| .mpg | Moving Picture Experts Group file format |
| MS | Microsoft |
| NBN | National Bibliography Number |
| NDPB | Non Departmental Public Body |
| NHS | National Health Service |
| NNTP | Network News Transfer Protocol |
| .nsf | Notes Storage File |
| OASIS | Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards |
| ODPM | Office of the Deputy Prime Minister |
| OGC | Open GIS Consortium [not to be confused with the Office of Govt Commerce (OGC)] |
| OID | Object Identifier |
| PDA | Personal Digital Assistant |
| Portable Document Format | |
| .png | Portable Network Graphics |
| POP | Post Office Protocol |
| PURL | Persistent Uniform Resource Locator |
| RDF | Resource Description Framework |
| RFC | Request for Comments |
| RFID | Radio Frequency Identification |
| RFP | Request for Proposals |
| RSA | Rivest-Shamir-Adleman |
| RSVP | Resource ReSerVation Protocol |
| RTCP | Real Time Control Protocol |
| .rtf | Rich Text Format |
| RTP | Real Time Protocol |
| RTSP | Real Time Streaming Protocol |
| SAP | Session Announcement Protocol |
| SDP | Session Description Protocol |
| SHA-1 | Secure Hash Algorithm 1 |
| SIP | Session Initiation Protocol |
| S/MIME | Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| SMTP/MIME | Simple Message Transfer Protocol/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol |
| SSL | Secure Socket Layer |
| .svg | Scalable Vector Graphics |
| .tar | Tape Archive File Format |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol |
| .tif | Tag Image File Format |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| UDDI | Universal Description Discovery and Integration |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
| UN/ECE | United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe |
| UML | Unified Modelling Language |
| URI | Uniform Resource Identifiers |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| URN | Uniform Resource Name |
| UTF | Universal Transformation Format |
| VML | Vector Markup Language |
| VoIP | Voice over IP |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| WAP | Wireless Access Protocol |
| .wma | Window Media Audio |
| .wmf | Windows Metafile Format |
| .wmv | Window Media Video |
| WSDL | Web Services Description Language |
| WS-I | Web Services Interoperability Organisation |
| W3C | World Wide Web Consortium |
| XHTML | Extensible Hypertext Markup Language |
| XML | Extensible Markup Language |
| XRI | OASIS eXtensible Resource Identifier |
| XSL | Extensible Stylesheet Language |
Appendix B: Glossary of Metadata Terms
| Category List | The simplest type of controlled vocabulary is a high-level categorisation (or classification) scheme. At the time of input, one or more categories must be selected from the scheme and added to the document metadata. At the time of seeking information, the user does not have to think of keywords, but simply browses the list of categories and subcategories. |
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| Content Metadata | A summary of information about the form and content of a resource. The term ‘metadata’ has been used only in the past 15 years, but has become particularly common with the popularity of the World Wide Web. The underlying concepts have been in use for as long as collections of information have been organised. Of particular interest to this Framework are the facets of metadata intended to support resource discovery and records management. ‘Metadata’ can also be used to describe more technical aspects of information resources; the type of information needed to transfer information from one type of computer or software application to another. ‘Metadata’ of this type is covered in the e-GIF. |
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| DOI (digital object identifier) | A type of persistent identifier. A persistent identifier is a way of permanently attaching a unique code (letters or numbers) to a document or any digital object. If the location or URL changes, then searching for the persistent identifier itself will find the exact object, document or original content. |
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| Element | A sub-set of an element, to make the meaning narrower or more specific, e.g. ‘Date created’, ‘Date destroyed’ as refinements of ‘Date’. A refined element shares the meaning of the unrefined element, but with a more restricted scope. A user who does not understand a specific element refinement term should be able to ignore the refinement and treat the metadata value as if it were the broader element, although this will lose some precision. The definitions of element refinement terms must be freely available. |
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| Encoding Scheme | A scheme that controls the content, or ‘value’ of an element or element refinement, in order to clarify the meaning or improve resource discovery. These schemes include controlled vocabularies and formal notations or parsing rules. A value expressed using an encoding scheme will thus be a token selected from a controlled vocabulary (e.g. a term from a classification system or set of subject headings) or a string formatted in accordance with a formal notation (e.g., '2000-01-01' as the standard expression of a date). Encoding schemes are designed to be interpreted by machines or by human readers. The definitive description of an encoding scheme must be clearly identified and available for use by those attempting to find information as well as those creating the metadata records. |
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| Field | Commonly used in database applications to describe a space in which data of the same type is entered (e.g. ‘title’ or ‘price’), ‘field’ is a similar concept to ‘element’. | ||||
| Information Retrieval | Finding the right information. Good information retrieval methods help ensure users find everything they are looking for, and only what they are looking for. |
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| Metadata Record | A full set of structured relevant metadata, comprising all relevant elements, describing one information resource. A metadata record can take many forms;
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| Qualifier | Term used to refer to both ‘Element refinement’ and ‘Encoding schemes’. Use of this term tends to cause confusion, so it is avoided in this document. |
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| Refinement | See 'Element Refinement' |
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| Resource discovery | Finding the right stuff. See 'Information retrieval'. | ||||
| RFID (radio frequency identification) | An electronic 'label' which transmits metadata to a reader for processing. |
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| Sub-element | Term sometimes used to refer to an element refinement. |
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| Taxonomy | The science of classification, traditionally used to describe a hierarchical scheme for classifying plants and animals. More recently it has been borrowed to describe a classification scheme for organising networked resources and supporting user-friendly navigation among them. Some taxonomies incorporate thesaurus features to augment the hierarchical structure. |
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| Thesaurus | A controlled vocabulary designed to support information retrieval by guiding both the person assigning metadata and the searcher to choose the same terms for the same concept. A thesaurus conforming to ISO 2788 (=BS 5723) supports navigation and term selection by showing relationships between terms that are close in meaning. A thesaurus can help to ensure:
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