|
|
 |
| iptc.org > NewsCodes |
The IPTC NewsCodes
Metadata
taxonomies
for the news industry
The IPTC not
only provides news exchange formats to the news
industry but also creates and maintains sets
of topics to
be assigned
as
metadata
values to
news objects like text, photographs, graphics,
audio- and video files and streams for many years
now. This allows for a consistent coding of
news metadata
over the course of time - thus we
call them IPTC
NewsCodes.
The universe of NewsCodes are
currently split into 30 individual sets for
increased manageability as topics usually relate
to a specific area and are
likely to be used exclusively in a specific metadata
element of a news
exchange format. The table below shows the available
sets of NewsCodes.
Clicking on "see NewsCodes" will open
a page where all topics defined in
this specific set are shown.
To support the
adoption and use of NewsCodes an online forum
is run by the IPTC, find it at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newscodes
|
IPTC
NewsCodes Groups - Overview
The IPTC groups the
NewsCodes to help easily identifying the specific
purpose of the different sets of NewsCodes:
- Descriptive NewsCodes >>>go
to>>>
This is a group
of taxonomies to describe the content
of news items properly.
- Administrative NewsCodes >>>go
to>>>
This is a group
of taxonomies for the administrative
properties of news items.
- Transmission NewsCodes >>>go
to>>>
This is a group
of taxonomies with controlled values
for the transmission process.
- Exchange Format NewsCodes >>>go
to>>>
This is a group
of taxonomies with values to support
specific functionalities of the different
IPTC news exchange format standards.
|
 |
For
distribution the NewsCodes sets take the
technical format of "Topicsets" as defined
by the IPTC standard "NewsML".
These XML files can be retrieved by clicking the "Download"
link on the page where the NewsCodes set is displayed.
Further
the IPTC provides the "NewsCodes
Viewer": a Windows application which
allows to display these XML files in a user friendly
way - download it from the "Resources"
panel to the right.
The IPTC NewsCodes sets are
regularly updated as needs require. Additional
terms are proposed by IPTC members, but non-IPTC
organisations can also submit an informal proposal
and seek support by IPTC members. The process for
changes and updates is described in the "Change
Management Guidelines"
(see"Resources" panel to the right).
Forms for NewsCodes submission are available for
download (see "Resources" panel).
Some sets of terms were translated
into different languages for global use. The technical
key issue is an abstract "Formal Name" that
is never translated. The additional descriptive
Names and Explanations could be translated into
any language. |
|
|
|
| D
e s c r i p t i v e - NewsCodes (^^^
back to top) |
| NewsCodes
sets are ordered by their names |
| Genre *) |
Describes the nature, journalistic
or intellectual characteristic of a news object, not
specifically its
content.
|
| Scene |
Describes
the scene of what is covered by the content.
|
| Subject
Code *) |
The Subject Codes is a three level
system for describing content by a well defined set of
terms.
Topics of level Subject provide a description of the editorial content of
a News at a high level, a SubjectMatter provides a description at a more
precise level and finally a SubjectDetail at a rather specific level.
Currently about 1300 terms are available - and several of them could be assigned
to a single news object enabling a very narrow description of the content.
|
| Subject
Qualifier *) |
Subject Qualifiers provide a narrower
attribute-like context for e.g. a sports-related subject
code, like sex of acting people, indoor/outdoor sports
etc.
|
| NewsCodes
sets marked with an asterisk *) were members of the older
"Subject Reference System" |
| A
d m i n i s t r a t i v e
- NewsCodes (^^^
back to top) |
| NewsCodes
sets are ordered by their names |
Audiocodecs
(NEW August
2006) |
Vocabulary of current
audio-en/decoders, many of them controlled by international
stanards.
|
Audiocoders
(Deprecated:
please do not assign these NewsCodes anymore) |
Vocabulary of software based audio-en/decoders.
|
| Colorspace |
Vocabulary to define colour space
like RGB, YUV or CMY.
|
| Of Interest
To |
Describes the target audience for
a NewsItem, based for example on demographics, geography
or other groupings. (see also "Relevance" below)
|
| Provider |
A unique ID assigned by the IPTC
to a company, publication or service provider.
|
| Status |
NewsML specific: The current usability
of a NewsItem within NewsML.
|
| Urgency |
Describes the relative importance
of a news object for editorial examination.
|
Videocodec
(NEW August
2006) |
Vocabulary of current video-en/decoders,
many of them controlled by international stanards.
|
Videocoder
(Deprecated:
please do not assign these NewsCodes anymore) |
Vocabulary of software based video-en/decoders.
|
| NewsCodes
sets marked with an asterisk *) were members of the older
"Subject Reference System" |
| T
r a n s m i s s i o n
- NewsCodes (^^^
back to top) |
| NewsCodes
sets are ordered by their names |
| Priority |
Describes the relative importance
of a NewsItem for distribution.
|
| NewsCodes
sets marked with an asterisk *) were members of the older
"Subject Reference System" |
| E
x c h a n g e F o r m a t
- NewsCodes (^^^
back to top) |
| NewsCodes
sets are ordered by their names |
Characteristics
Property |
List of names (not values!) to describe
physical characteristics of content - like "width" and
"height" for photos, or "sampling rate" for
audio.
|
| Confidence |
Describes the degree of certainty
that data assigned are correct.
|
| Encoding |
Vocabulary of popular encoding schemes
used to transform data.
|
| Format |
Describes the technical format of
a content like JPG for a picture, MP3 for audio or NITF
or PDF for text.
|
| How Present |
Describes the way in which a topic
occurs in the content of a news object.
|
| Importance |
Describes the relative significance
of the metadata applied to a news object.
|
| Labeltype |
Describes the type of a label attached
to a news object. (Labels are portions of human readable
text - unlike most other metadata which are considered
to be primarily machine readable only.)
|
| Location
(Type) |
List of identifiers used to describe
the type of regions of the world where events take place.
|
| Media Type
*) |
Describes the type of media in a
very general way, like text, photo etc.
|
| MIME Type |
Describes the type of media in a
more specific way by using IANA registered MIME types.
|
| Newsitem
Type *) |
Describes the type of content that
a news item carries in a very general way.
|
| Notation |
Describes the technical notation
of a piece of content.
|
| Property |
NewsML specific: Describes the type
of a NewsML Property element.
|
| Relevance |
Describes the extent in which a news
object is relevant to the target audience specified by "OfInterestTo" (see
above).
|
| Role |
Describes the role of a news object
within a package of several news objects - like e.g.
"Main" (content), "Supporting", or "Caption".
|
| Topic Type |
NewsML specific: The kind of thing
that the individual thing represented by the topic can
be characterised as.
|
| NewsCodes
sets marked with an asterisk *) were members of the older
"Subject Reference System" |
|
|
|
© 2008 IPTC,
International Press Telecommunications Council, All rights reserved |
|
|
