Metadata qualification elements

These elements can be used to provide additional information about a topic, and may be used in conjunction with conditional processing attributes to provide more information about the attribute values.

The metadata elements apply to an entire topic, and can also be used in a map to apply metadata to multiple topics at a time. Metadata elements can expand on the values used in metadata attributes. (See metadata attributes.) For example, the audience element in a topic's prolog can define an audience in terms of type, job, and experience level, and give it a name; when there is content within the topic's body that applies only to that audience, that content can identify its audience by the same name used in the prolog.

When metadata is expressed in a map, it supplements any metadata expressed in the topics it references. When metadata in a map and a topic conflict (for example, both define a publisher), by default the value in the map takes precedence, on the assumption that the author of the map has more knowledge of the reusing context than the author of the topic.

audience: The type, job, experience level, and other characteristics of the reader for the topic. Many of these characteristics have enumerated values, but the enumeration can be extended through associated attributes. For instance, the audience type enumeration can be extended through an othertype attribute. The audience element can provide more information about a value used by an audience attribute.
category: A classification of the topic content. Such classifications are likely to come from an enumerated or hierarchical set. This element is equivalent to both Dublin Core Coverage and Dublin Core Subject.
keywords: Terms from a controlled or uncontrolled subject vocabulary that apply to the topic.
prodinfo: The definition of the product or platform for the topic. The prodinfo element can provide more information about values used by the product and platform attributes.
othermeta: A name-value pair specifying other metadata about the topic.
data: Additional data or metadata about the topic or map, or elements in the topic or map; allows for more complex metadata using nested values. Primarily used as the base for specialized metadata structures.