Elements are chosen from a standard list (for example, DC.Title is one of the 15 main elements defined by the Dublin Core standard).
Elements may be repeated as required (so, for example, DC.Subject will often occur several times to describe one dataset).
DC.Subject China
DC.Subject Buddhism
DC.Subject Zen
DC.Subject Art
DC.Subject Ming
Elements can be structured hierarchichally into sub-elements, for example:
DC.Contributor
DC.Contributor.PersonName
DC.Contributor.personName.Address
Metadata systems are generally organised as a series of elements for which values are recorded using a particular scheme.
Elements appear in the TMWin Metadata Editor's Metadata Worksheets in this format:
Where the Element and Scheme are ECAI-defined and the Value is entered by the user.