E-GMS

The e-Government Metadata Standard, e-GMS, is the UK e-Government Metadata Standard. It defines how UK public sector bodies should label content such as web pages and documents in order to make such information more easily managed, found and shared.

The metadata standard is an application profile of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set and consists of mandatory, recommended and optional metadata elements such as title, date created and description.

The e-GMS formed part of the e-Government Metadata Framework (e-GMF) and eGovernment Interoperability Framework (e-GIF). The standard helps provide a basis for the adoption of XML schemas for data exchange.

The current standard defines twenty-five elements. Each has a formal description (taken from Dublin Core where possible) and an obligation rating of "mandatory", "mandatory if applicable", "recommended" or "optional":

Each element also has a statement of purpose, notes, clarification, refinements (such as sub-elements), examples of use, HTML syntax, encoding schemes and mappings to other metadata standards where applicable.

The first version of the standard comprising simple Dublin Core elements was first published with the e-GMF. e-GMS was first published as a separate document by the Office of the e-Envoy in April 2002 and contained twenty-one elements. Version 2 was released in December 2003 and added separate elements for Addressee, Aggregation, Digital Signature and Mandate. Version 2 also added further refinements and introduced the e-GMS Audience Encoding Scheme (e-GMSAES) and e-GMS Type Encoding Scheme (e-GMSTES). Version 3 was released in April 2004 and incorporated PRONOM within the format and preservation elements. The most recent version, 3.1, was published in August 2006 by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit following the closure of the Office of the e-Envoy. It now forms part of the UK Government's Information Principles, supporting the principle that "Information is standardised and linkable". Responsibility for maintenance and development of the standard has since moved from central to local government.

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