XMPteavet

XMPteavet is a hypothetical metadata framework designed to encode descriptive, administrative, and structural information for digital objects. It extends the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) by adding a structured information model and multilingual capabilities intended for use in cultural heritage, libraries, and media archives. The goal is to enable consistent metadata capture, exchange, and rendering across diverse systems.

XMPteavet emerged from collaborative efforts among libraries, archives, and museums in the early 2020s, aiming to address fragmentation between Dublin Core, TEI, and XMP. The specification defines a set of namespaces and a core vocabulary for describing content, provenance, rights, technical characteristics, and relationships between objects, and it supports serialization in RDF, JSON-LD, and embedded XMP packets.

Key features include multilingual data support with language tags; hierarchical and linked metadata for complex objects; provenance and rights metadata; representation of relationships such as versions, derivatives, and collections; compatibility with existing metadata workflows and tools; and an emphasis on machine readability alongside human readability.

Implementation and impact: Several institutions pilot-tested XMPteavet to annotate digital photos, manuscripts, and audiovisual assets. Proponents cite improved interoperability and easier data exchange, while critics note added complexity and the burden of maintaining additional schemas alongside legacy standards.

Status and future: As a hypothetical standard, XMPteavet has not achieved universal adoption. Ongoing discussions focus on alignment with RDF vocabularies and interoperability with TEI, Dublin Core, and other schema families, as well as tooling to automate metadata generation.