The PBCore metadata standard: A decade of evolution

Abstract

In less than ten years, broadcasting has been completely transformed from an analogue, tape-based medium to a production and distribution environment that is digital from end to end. Early in the transition, the public broadcasting system recognised the need for a single, unified descriptive metadata schema able to deliver digital content across multiple platforms. The Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project (PBMD), comprising representatives from both public radio and public television, was convened by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2001, and spent several years analysing metadata standards and collecting user requirements to create PBCore, based in large part on Dublin Core. PBCore v1.0 was released in 2005, and since then, it has been widely adopted not only by broadcasters, but also by media archives as the preferred scheme for descriptive and technical metadata. During several years of dormancy, PBCore was maintained by a loyal group of users, but with the planning of the new American Archive project, CPB is once again supporting PBCore, and Version 2.0 was released early in 2011. Beyond public radio and television stations, the standard has been found to be popular for time-based media, and the community of user institutions has expanded rapidly to include audio, video and film archives. Although PBCore is proving to be very valuable in meeting its original goal as a standard for rich media that is extensible, scalable, flexible and easy to understand, it continues to need support for its ongoing maintenance and improvement and to expand its adoption.