Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom

Name

mod_dublincore

Synopsis

The second of the Standard modules to be examined in this chapter, mod_dublincore is the most-used of all the RSS 1.0 modules. It allows an RSS 1.0 feed to express the additional metadata formalized by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.

Namespace

mod_dublincore is identified by the prefix dc: and the URI http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/. So, in the grand tradition, the root element appears as:

<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
         xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
         xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>

Elements

mod_dublincore can be used in two ways: the simpler and the more RDF-based.

In either usage, mod_dublincore elements are entirely optional and can be applied to the channel, an item, an image, a textinput element, or all of them, as liberally as you wish, as long as the information you are relating makes sense. It is rather addictive, I must say, and I encourage you to put Dublin Core metadata all over your feeds. Here’s what you can include:

dc:title

The title of the item.

dc:creator

The name of the creator of the item (i.e., a person, organization, or system). If the creator is a person, this information is customarily in the format Firstname Lastname ( email @ domain. com ).

dc:subject

The subject of the item.

dc:description

A brief description of the item.

dc:publisher

The name of the publisher, either a person or an organization. If the publisher is a person, this information is customarily in the format Firstname ...