In 2000, the original goal was to refine the semantics of the Dublin Core element and use DC for audio archives. In 2008, the scope was significantly enlarged to a common core set of information through which archives would be searched, e.g. through web portals. Today, the domain of use of the EBUCore specification is much broader and is no longer limited to audio or archives.
Different European projects (EUScreen), which counts 12 EBU members and national archives, has developed a portal to access public audio visual archives. It also actively contrbutes to the European Digital Library (Europeana). EUScreen uses EBUCore as its reference metadata format and .plans to contribute 'linked metadata' to Europeana in the form of EBUCore RDF/OWL files.EBU is also working with the University of Athens (NTUA) on a web-based tool through which users will be able to map their existing metadata to EBUCore. The service is planned for the end of 2011.
EBUCore has been adopted by AES and is published as AES-60.
W3C MAWG has developed an ontology based on a class model proposed by EBU. EBUCore compatibility is strongly maintained with W3C developments through EBU active participation in the development of the ma-ont ontology. The RDF/OWL version of EBUCore is available as a developer resource. It has been updated to improve mapping to schema.org.
egatMETA for advertising file exchange is built upon EBUCore and was developed in collaboration with egta.
UK's Digital Production Partnership (UK DPP) references EBUCore.
EBUCore is the foundation of the technical metadata used in the FIMS 1.0 specification
Several broadcasters have already adopted EBUCore for implementation in their asset management systems. The recent publication of SMMCore from Mediacorp in Singapore is an excellent example on how EBUCore can be used and adapted by broadcasters as a deliberate choice from the comparison with other cores.
The specification has been published as Tech 3293 and is available for download. The schema and associated resources are accessible from links provided in the'download zone' within the specification.
EBUCore will go to another version soon. Audio experts are working on a revised model for audio systems capable of describing new audio systems such as 22.2 for super HDTV. Watch this space.
EBUCore is published under the Creative Commons "Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike3.0 Unported(CC BY-SA 3.0)". Users and implementers have the freedom to change EBUCore to address their respective needs. They should mention that the new specification is based on EBUCore. They are encouraged to share the results alike. It can be implemented intoproducts for commercial pruposes but cannot be traded as a specific commodity .
Comments are invited via the maintenance page.
