2. Databases 2.

1 Metadata The concept of metadata comes from the necessity of collect several types of information in the same source. As can be supposed, it could be so many metadata structures as types of information there are. So its evident that we need a solution in order to avoid lost opportunities or unnecessary efforts when we have to do a resource. It means that all metadata should follow the same structure, but the amount of different types of sources converts this task to impossible. Nonetheless, we can group some of these sources and agree a common structure. Here, is where the metadata standards come into play. Over the years, a lot of communities have developed their metadata standards for electronic documents, art objects, scientific datasets, business, etc. but in this chapter, we are going to consider the most relevant metadata standards for digital photography [#01].
Name IPTC Information Interchange Model IIM IPTC Core Schema for XMP Exif XMP Dublin Core PLUS DIM2 Additional information IPTC in 1991, adopted by Adobe for the metadata fields in Photoshop in 1995. Still widely in use. Used to redefine IIM properties for Adobes XMP technology, in order to provide a maximum compatibility. Exchangeable Image File. Is the main standard for metadata created by still cameras. eXtensible Metadata Platform. Is an XML-based standard developed by and for Adobe. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is developing and maintaining the Dublin Core metadata properties; widely used as cross-media metadata. Picture Licensing Universal System. Focussed on rights and licensing information. Currently under development by PRISM/IDEAlliance. An extensive set to describe the content of photos. Photo metadatas standards [##02]

For our application, we have a virtual collection, that means, the metadata set will just describe and classify the access to the objects (photos), so we has to collect the description of each photography metadata in a database server, which will facilitate the search tasks. The advantages of chose an existent metadata standard instead of use our own structure, are important to consider. Starting with the compatibility is logic to use one of the standards in order to ensure more flexibility with other software. If we think craftily, we must consider that using one of the most used standards, it is easier to find the commands, access functions already implemented, thus we would save time and money in the development process. For these reasons, we are going to choose a metadata standard, but before we have to remind our necessities to decide this which one is best suited: The pictures to manage will be JPEG, PNG or GIF.

The essential fields will be (*compulsory): Title* Author* Location: it can be indicated manually or it can be taken from the photographers profile. Keywords*: one at least. Description

Considering these points, we want to offer the possibility to change the values of each field, but in the case that they are right by default and dont need any modification, we would like to save the hassle that supposes to introduce manually all the values. For this reason, the most appropriated metadata specifications are the ones given by the Metadata Working Group [##3], which gives some guidelines to ensure the interoperability between the most used metadata standards: Exif, IPTC and XMP. However, its an upcoming standard and still its difficult to find any application that uses it. Thats why finally we opted by the IPTC Core Schema for XMP, which combines the IIM (Information Interchange Model) and the XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) standards. As we can observe in the specification document of this standard [##4], it complies with all the fields that we need and even includes other ones that can be useful to providing more extensive information, as its shown above: Detailed Instructio contact info ns City Intellect ual genre Copyright notice Job ID Country Keywor ds Country code Locatio Creator n Creator Provider contact info Provider Creator jobtitle state Date created Rights Caption/Desc usage terms ription Scene Description Source writer Subject Headline code Title

*Mention that the price of each photo should be agreed between the photographer and the editor or should be included in the description field, but its a matter apart of the application. In the case that the image includes an article (journalist photographer), it must be indicated in the description field. On the other hand, we also will need to specify a metadata for the users profiles, but in this case we will define a particular structure, detailed below:
User profile E-mail* string Password* string Name* string Surname* string Birth date date Place of residence string Telephone number integer Mobile phone number integer Type of user* Boolean (YES = Photographer / NO = Editor) Photographer: Journalist? boolean Location string Evaluation int Editor: Company string Table ##. User profile metadata.

BIBLIOGRAPHY [#01] About.com Graphics Software. What is metadata? http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glossary/f/metadata.htm [#02] IPTC Standards. Photo metadata white paper 2007. Document revision 11. [#03] Metadata Working Group. Guidelines for handling image metadata. V2.0. http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/pdf/mwg_guidance.pdf [#04] IPTC. IPTC Standards. IPTC Core Schema for XMP. http://www.iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpCore/1.0/specification/Iptc4xm pCore_1.0-spec-XMPSchema_8.pdf