Newsml For Dummies
NewsML for dummies
This version: draft2
Last revision date : September 30 2001
Author: L. Le Meur
Direction Technique - Direction Développement Multimédia AFP
This document is an introduction to the NewsML 1 structure, and its use by AFP ; it is intended to help
XML developers understand the logic of NewsML, under its apparent complexity. It doesn’t preclude the
study of the NewsML functional specifications (www.newsml.org).
AFP now distributes its multimedia services in the NewsML format. This document describes the AFP
implementation of NewsML, and constitutes a guideline for developers of news systems receiving those
AFP services.
Presentation
NewsML is a media independent standard for describing news in an electronic service environment.
NewsML defines an XML based language for expressing the structure of news , associated metadata,
and relationships between news, throughout their lifecycle.
NewsML introduces several types of objects, each of them representing a level of news information ;
from the lower level to the upper, they are :
Ø content item (ContentItem) used to wrap information content,
Ø news component (NewsComponent) used to structure and describe news information,
Ø news item (NewsItem) used to identify news information.
Ø news document (NewsML) used to transport news information,
Ø news package (e.g. MIME multipart-related envelope) used to package news data.
NewsItems, NewsComponents and ContentItems are generically referred as news objects.
The granula rity of those objects has been chosen to get clear and non overlapping functions in the
architecture.
The current NewsML version is v1.0, ratified in october 2000 by IPTC members.
1 NewsML is developed by the IPTC, the international consortium of news publishers and vendors.
1
NewsML description................................................................................................................ 3
1.1
NewsML describes the structure of news items............................................................. 3
1.1.1
NewsML illustrated.................................................................................................. 3
1.1.2
NewsML wraps content........................................................................................... 4
1.1.2.1
Concept of ContentItem..........................................................................................4
1.1.2.2
Content media types ...............................................................................................4
1.1.2.3
Content format and characteristics ...........................................................................4
1.1.2.4
Inclusion or reference of content..............................................................................4
1.1.3
NewsML structures news information .................................................................... 4
1.1.3.1
Concept of news object...........................................................................................4
1.1.3.2
Concept of NewsComponent ...................................................................................5
1.1.3.3
Concept of Role ......................................................................................................6
1.1.3.4
Concept of NewsLines............................................................................................6
1.1.4
NewsML identifies and manages news information............................................... 6
1.1.4.1
Concept of NewsItem .............................................................................................6
1.1.4.2
Identification of news .............................................................................................6
1.1.4.3
Management of news ..............................................................................................7
1.2
NewsML describes news information............................................................................. 8
1.2.1
Administrative metadata ......................................................................................... 8
1.2.2
Descriptive metadata .............................................................................................. 9
1.2.3
Rights metadata...................................................................................................... 9
1.2.4
Metadata extensibility ............................................................................................. 9
1.2.5
Controlled vocabularies .......................................................................................... 9
1.3
NewsML transports news information ............................................................................ 9
1.3.1.1
Concept of NewsEnvelope ......................................................................................9
1.3.1.2
Concept of news package ......................................................................................10
2
The AFP implementation....................................................................................................... 11
2.1
Simple text document ................................................................................................... 11
2.2
Simple multimedia document........................................................................................ 13
2.3
The text markup ............................................................................................................ 14
2.3.1
NITF elements....................................................................................................... 15
2.3.1.1
Hyperlinks ...........................................................................................................15
2.3.1.2
Organization codes ...............................................................................................16
2.3.1.3
Sub-titles..............................................................................................................16
2.3.1.4
Tables and lists.....................................................................................................17
2.3.1.5
Preformatted text..................................................................................................17
2.3.1.6
Illustration placeholders ........................................................................................18
2.4
AFP Controlled vocabularies ........................................................................................ 19
2.4.1
Roles ..................................................................................................................... 19
2.4.2
Formats ................................................................................................................. 19
2.4.3
Properties .............................................................................................................. 19
NewsML for Dummies
2
1 NewsML description
In this description, we use a bottom-up logic (from the physical content up to the abstract news
management concept), inverse from the functional specifications logic, but perhaps easier to understand
for NewsML crookies.
1.1 NewsML describes the structure of news items
(extract of IPTC members memos)
“NewsML focus is on structure: it does not represent layout or other presentational features. Such features
can be represented using stylesheets, or other presentation languages based on XML technology such as
XHTML or SMIL.
The needs to express complex structures are a requirement of NewsML, but NewsML representation is
kept as simple as possible for news content commonly used.
Developed in news community, NewsML must not become a new all-purpose schema language, or
abstract description framework like RDF or XML-Data. Thus NewsML definitions are directly
understandable by people from the news environment.
NewsML provides support for all media -types in use today. Knowing the rapid pace of development in IT
fields and news environment, NewsML must be easily extensible. This extensibility is achieved by the
definition of generic tags, and by the standard means developed by the XML community, especially the
namespace mechanism.”
1.1.1 NewsML illustrated
NewsML
(document)
NewsEnvelope
(transfer parameters)
Identification
(identifier)
NewsItem
(news item)
NewsManagement
(management parameters)
NewsComponent
AdministrativeMetadata
(component)
DescriptiveMetadata
RightsMetadata
(metadata)
NewsComponent
NewsItem
ContentItem
(component)
(news item)
(content item)
includes
datas
or links to (text or
illustration)
NewsML for Dummies
3
1.1.2 NewsML wraps content
1.1.2.1 Concept of ContentItem
A ContentItem represents the unit of content managed in a news environment ; it’s the representation of
a textual or binary resource (data block). Examples of ContentItems are a text body, a digital picture, a
vector graphic, an audio or video sample, or an animation. ContentItems possess some physical metadata,
called characteristics. ContentItems are never found as stand-alone pie ces of information in a news
environment ; they are instead included in news objects, where they are locally identified .
1.1.2.2 Content media types
ContentItems fall in different categories (medias). Possible “MediaTypes” of ContentItems defined in
NewsML 1.0 are:
Ø ‘Text’ : represents a text body, e.g. a wire story, an article content, or a report. Such a string can be a
plain text, or an XML text, with internal markup.
Ø ‘Graphic’ represents a still graphic, in a bitmap or vector form.
Ø ‘Photo’ represents a digital picture, a snapshot of a real world situation.
Ø ‘Audio’ represents a digital audio sequence.
Ø ‘Video’ represents a digital video sequence ; the sequence may include a soundtrack
Ø ‘Animation’ represents a graphic animation, in a bitmap or vector form. This dynamic graphic can be
a 2D or 3D work, and can be interactive, or a pure animation.
Those media types are found in a “topicset” (see below) called ‘topicset.iptc-mediatype.xml’. Other
named medias could be added in future NewsML revisions ; providers can also create their own types.
1.1.2.3 Content format and characteristics
ContentItems also get a Format, a MimeType and a Notation. The current IPTC Format topicset
(topicset.iptc-format.xml) is a first shot, and AFP uses its own. The MimeType metadata is somewhat
redundant with Format, follows a fuzzy registration mechanism, and mixes file format and information
about the application needed for content edition. The Notation metadata is a third alternative way of
giving a content format, coming from the XML world.
ContentItems accept different Characteristics. They hold information about the composition of a digital
resource ; they are inherent attributes of a ContentItem and could be automatically retrieved from a digital
content, but are provided in NewsML for easy search, retrieval, or representation purpose.
A Size (in bytes) is the only currently defined physical metadata ; IPTC will introduce other
characteristics in the future (there’s a current study on audio/video/photo standard characteristics), but
such metadata can already be freely added by providers using a generic Property element.
1.1.2.4 Inclusion or reference of content
The data of a ContentItem can be included explicitly in its DataContent sub-element, or referenced by a
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) via its Href attribute. If included in-line, binary parts are encoded as
text data (e.g. base64), wrapped in the Encoding sub-element of DataContent. Be aware that this
recursive feature allows for the representation of multiple encoding.
Note : a URL isn't a global id; a resource can be freely duplicated, so identical resources can be
referenced by different URL's. Even if not duplicated, a single resource can be pointed at by different
URL's, using alternative syntaxes (e.g. IP numbers vs host names). Users must also be warned that the
referenced resource can be shared between several news items without any warning in NewsML.
1.1.3 NewsML structures news information
1.1.3.1 Concept of news object
A news object represents a piece of news : it adds publishing information to content, and so offers a point
of view that relates to a specific point in time. News objects possess a local or global identification, and
NewsML for Dummies
4
a set of news metadata that relate them to a time and to a source (person or organisation) whose point of
view they represent.
1.1.3.2 Concept of NewsComponent
A NewsComponent acts as
Ø a container of news objects,
Ø a news metadata handler,
Ø a anchor for news object roles,
Ø a news lines handler.
NewsComponent as a container of news objects
A NewsComponent is a container object that groups together other news objects (NewsItems,
NewsItemRefs or NewsComponents) or ContentItems in the context of a NewsItem (see below).
A NewsComponent adds a hierarchical structure to the documents, a structure that doesn’t represent
layout, but news information. For example a NewsComponent can represent a picture with its caption, or
several text parts in different languages.
A NewsComponent collection cannot include a mix of NewsItems/NewsItemRefs, NewsComponents and
ContentItems : NewsML considers those as different beasts.
During IPTC discussions, some participants thought of a NewsComponent as a replicate of a RDF
container , that could act as a ‘Bag’ (unordered list), a ‘Sequence’ (ordered list), or an ‘Alternative’ (a list
of alternative resources). This idea evolved and the representation of the order of the news objects was put
in stand-by mode.
The EquivalentsList attribute is used to stand that the elements of a NewsComponent collection are
alternative objects : for example, several text parts in different languages are indeed alternative pieces of
information, as are several pictures from the same scene in different formats, or alternative articles - one
for the Web, one for the WAP - related to the same story.
Such equivalent collections get a BasisForChoice element, which gives the name of a property (the
criteria) that significantly differs between those objects. BasisForChoice uses an XPath syntax to point at
the chosen property (language, format ...).
Note : XPath isn’t so difficult to use.
“Role/@FormalName” uses the Role as a basis for choice (points at the FormalName attribute of the Role
element child of the current node).
“DescriptiveMetadata/Language/@FormalName” uses the Language as a basis for choice.
“ContentItem/Format/@FormalName” uses the content format as a basis for choice.
NewsComponent as a news metadata handler
A NewsComponent holds administrative, descriptive, rights metadata and NewsLines in the NewsML
environment, but has no globally unique identifier.
NewsLines and news metadata are described below.
Local identification of NewsComponents
A local identifier is usually associated with a NewsComponent, in the context of a news document. So
NewsComponents can be pointed at from another part of the document.
As NewsComponent don’t get a globally unique identifier, they’re not reusable in a NewsML
environment : there’s no way of knowing that two NewsComponents are identical, and no way to directly
refer to an external NewsComponent.
NewsML for Dummies
5
1.1.3.3 Concept of Role
Each NewsComponent in a news document can get a Role sub-element. A Role is “the distinguishing
characteristic of a NewsComponent, or its relationship to the others with which it is associated within the
same containing NewsComponent” (IPTC).
A Role indicates why a news object is present inside its container. Roles can represent dependencies or
logical links between objects, or can show the possible use of an object for a client application.
For example, in a news document that holds two NewsComponents representing photos, the Role of the
first image can be 'FullRes' (full resolution), and the Role of the second image can be 'Thumbnail'. A
NewsComponent representing an article can have the ‘Main’ Role, and another have the ‘Sidebar’ Role.
1.1.3.4 Concept of NewsLines
News line s are characteristic properties of news objects such as slug, headline, byline , dateline,
copyright information.
They represent information in a human readable form and are characteristically displayed alongside the
content of an object.
Using NewsLines, providers state some presentation rules for the information they deliver.
When several news objects grouped inside a NewsComponent share the same NewsLines, those are
usually attached to the container NewsComponent, to avoid duplication.
News lines are inherently textual and may be present in multiple languages. (The “xml:lang” attribute
may be used to specify the language used in a News lines element).
1.1.4 NewsML identifies and manages news information
1.1.4.1 Concept of NewsItem
A NewsItem is a news object that gets identification and management metadata. This is the unit of
interchange in a news environment, an entry point in a web of included news objects, and thus it can be
seen as a publishable object.
Be aware that NewsItems, being uniquely identified, are the only reusable news objects in a NewsML
environment.
A NewsItem can represent a mono-media resource (Text, Photo, Graphic, Audio, Video, Animation), a
multimedia resource, or a collection of resources.
A Multimedia NewsItem is a package of different NewsComponents, from mixed medias, usually created
by a multimedia service. For example, an editorial column composed of a text and some photos; a
thumbnail picture can be transmitted with this kind of document.
A Collection NewsItem is a group of related news objects ; included ContentItems usually share the same
media (for example the five best pictures of the day). A Collection usually contains only links to other
NewsItems ; the NewsItemRef element then provides a pointer to a NewsItem that is deemed to replace
the NewsItemRef element.
1.1.4.2 Identification of news
The Identification element of a NewsItem handles a globally unique news identifier, a name and a date.
The globally unique news identifier (more or less equivalent to the IIM UNO (Unique Name of Obje ct))
is constituted of four elements :
NewsML for Dummies
6
Provider Id
The domain name of the provider (“afp.com”).
Date Id
In practice, the creation date of the news item, in iso compact
format (YYYYMMDD).
NewsItem Id
A news item identifier, unique in the publisher’s namespace for the
given Date Id.
Revision Id
A revision number, that refers to an editorial decision to change the
content The revision number is used to trace the evolution of a
document or content through its life cycle. The default is ‘1’, and
the value is incremented when revisions occur.
The news identifier offers two alternative way of identification :
Ø The PublicIdentifier is a NewsML URN (Uniform Resource Name), a kind of URI that
identifies an object, but doesn't locate it explicitly. A NewsML URN is of the form
“urn:NewsML:ProviderId:DateId:NewsItemId:RevisionId”.
Ø The set made of 4 elements {ProviderId, DateId, NewsItemId, RevisionId}
The optional NameLabel is a human readable label used to select a news item ; it’s not intended to be
globally unique. Note that this label can’t be given is several languages, this is one of the issues of
NewsMLv1.0.
The DateLabel is a free formatted label that indicates the publishing date of the news, as found in the
dateline classical information.
1.1.4.3 Management of news
The NewsManagement element of NewsItem handles at least the type of the information, the creation
date of the document, its date of last modification, and the status of the NewsItem. Other optional
metadata can be set, as the importance of the information, inheritance and associations between
NewsItems, or special instructions given to the recipient of the information.
NewsItems fall in different categories. Main NewsItemTypes defined in the current IPTC topicset called
“topicset.iptc-newsitemtype.xml” are:
Ø ‘News ’ : Basic coverage of a news event, such as articles, photos, video or audio reports.
Ø ‘Data’ : Non-narrative information, usually not eligible for journalistic intervention or modification,
or information routed by the provider from a third party to the user. Examples are sports results and
stock prices.
Ø ‘Advisory’ : A non-publishable communication providing information about the existing or planned
coverage of news events.
The FirstCreated date is a system date associated with the NewsItem creation (the date the information
was entered in a NewsML compliant system) : be aware that it’s not necessarily the date of origin of the
information (the IIM date of intellectual creation). The ThisRevisionCreated date is associated with the
current revision of the NewsItem.
NewsML provides mechanisms for the efficient handling of changes to NewsItems over time.
The Status element gives information about the NewsItem usability. Possible Status defined in the
current IPTC topicset called “topicset.iptc-status.xml” are:
Ø ‘Usable ’ : The NewsItem and its content may be published without restriction.
Ø ‘Embargoed’ : Neither the NewsItem nor its content may be published until released for publication
by the provider.
Ø ‘Withheld’ : Neither the NewsItem nor its content may be published until further notice.
Ø ‘Canceled’ : Neither the NewsItem nor its content may be used under any circumstances. If the
NewsItem or its content has been published, the publisher must take immediate action to withdraw or
retract it, as may be legally necessary.
NewsML for Dummies
7
In the case of an embargo, the embargo limit can be set using the StatusWillChange element, which
DateAndTime sub-element gives the end time, and FutureStatus is set to ‘Usable’.
The importance of a NewsItem for editorial examination (from the provider’s point of view) can be set
via the Urgency element (equivalent to the IIM definition) using a numeric value from 1 to 8, 1 being
most important. Be aware that this importance is in reality tied to the news item targeted audience. Many
people in the news world think that a news agency can’t set a global importance level to an information:
an Importance attribute of the OfInterestTo descriptive metadata is here for this reason. Also don’t mix
importance and transmission priority: the la tter in given by a NewsML NewsEnvelope sub-element called
Priority.
If a NewsItem has an interesting inheritance relationship with another NewsItem, this can be described
using the DerivedFrom element, which NewsItem attribute is set to the parent NewsItem NewsML URN.
If a NewsItem is clearly associated with other NewsItems, this can also be described using the
AssociatedWith element, which NewsItem attribute is set to the associated NewsItem NewsML URN. In
NewsMLv1.0, the semantic of this association can only be given via the Comment sub-element. AFP will
study a controlled vocabulary for those association semantics.
The Instruction element is deemed to contain a controlled instruction from the news provider to the
recipient of a NewsItem ; it can also give the status of previous revisions of a revised document. AFP
doesn’t use this field at this stage ; any new revision of a NewsItem should replace the previous one.
1.2 NewsML describes news information
Metadata of some kind are associated with every NewsML objects; metadata are mainly intended to assist
production tasks, routing, search and retrieval.
NewsML recognises a number of different categories of metadata, and defines specific metadata
properties within each category. It also provides a mechanism whereby the properties recognised within
each category can be extended over time through the use of controlled vocabularies.
Metadata provide information about objects, from several angles : physical characteristics (what do they
look like), administration(who made them, when, where), description (what’s inside), rights (how they
can be used). Physical characteristics have already been described, let’s see the other classes.
1.2.1 Administrative metadata
Administrative metadata are intended to provide who, when and where information about a news object.
As it happens, only the ‘who’ part has been developed in NewsMLv1.0. ‘when’ information like creation
date is found in the news management set, and ‘where’ information is left to providers as extensions of
NewsMLv1.0.
Current administrative metadata are : FileName (a proposed document file name), SystemIdentifier (a
document URL), Source (the organization at the origin of the information), Provider (the organization
that publishes the information), Creator (the name of the people that created the news object),
Contributor (the name of a contributor to the news object ; there’s no way to state what the contribution
was).
Usually, two NewsComponents of a same news document will share the same administrative metadata
(source, provider, creator, contributor) ; but a collaboratively created document could have different
creators for different news objects.
Be aware that a FileName and SystemIdentifier are NewsItem level metadata, and are not logically
associated with the NewsComponent.
NewsML for Dummies
8
1.2.2 Descriptive metadata
Descriptive metadata provide what information about a NewsComponent. They are more subjective that
administrative metadata, and can’t be set automatically. They provide a “point de vue”, a “mise en regard
de l’actualité”, and thus make an object a new object.
Current descriptive metadata are : Language (that appear in the NewsComponent), Genre (the editorial
class of the information), SubjectCode (the IPTC subject codes, with their three levels), OfInterestTo
(the targeted audience of the NewsComponent), TopicOccurence (signals what topics appear in the
NewsComponent).
A NewsItem can support an xml:lang attribute, using the iso 2 letters syntax. But AFP decided to use the
Language metadata (multi-valued) instead, still using the iso 2 letters syntax.
1.2.3 Rights metadata
Rights give information about ownership, copyright, and usage rights. Copyrights have a name and a
year parameter. Usage rights have a type, geography limits, restrictions a start date, an end date.
AFP didn’t fully study this part of the NewsML specifications yet.
1.2.4 Metadata extensibility
The NewsML DTD and Schema offers a complete set of metadata elements in each category;
extensibility is provided by the use of a “generic” Property metadata element, with a FormalName
attribute that give a class to the property, and a Value attribute that gives its value. Property can be used
recursively, allowing the creation of complex extended metadata.
1.2.5 Controlled vocabularies
NewsML doesn’t provide a fixed set of values for any particular metadata attribute value, but instead uses
a controlled vocabulary mechanism. Enumerated values for metadata attributes are not specified in
NewsML DTD and schema, but in separate collections of names named topicsets.
Default vocabularies are defined by IPTC ; extensibility can be provided by the use of alternate
vocabulary schemes, published by named authorities.
A Catalog of the topicsets used by a provider is represented at the top of any NewsML document as a file
pointed at via an URL, and “http://www.iptc.org/NewsML/catalog/catalog.IptcMasterCatalog.xml” is the
current URL of the IPTC catalog.
1.3 NewsML transports news information
1.3.1.1 Concept of NewsEnvelope
NewsML is used to transmit NewsItems between editorial systems. The NewsEnvelope provides
transmission information data such as routing, and some basic workflow information.
Transmission information is thus separated from the publishable content of a NewsItem. This separation
allows for the inclusion of a NewsItem within a NewsItem, without recursive inclusion of production
information.
A NewsEnvelope gets a transmission identifier, TransmissionId. In case of transmission retries, this
identifier stays the same but a Repeat numeric attribute is incremented (1 for the first retrie).
SentFrom and SentTo both give information about the origin and destination parties. The Party sub-
element uses a controlled vocabulary specific to the provider.
DateAndTime is set to the transmission time
NewsML for Dummies
9
NewsService and NewsProduct use a controlled vocabulary specific to the provider. Products are subsets
of services, using the IPTC IIM definition.
The Priority element sets the transmission priority, using a numeric value from 1 to 8, 1 being most
important.
1.3.1.2 Concept of news package
Currently, the NewsML document and associated resources are transmitted side by side in different files
stores in the same folder.
As a more compact future alternative, the included NewsItems and all related resources (the raw content)
can be aggregated in a physical transport package, especially a MIME envelope (a better mechanism for
binary transport is still to be found in the XML world). A naming system is used to identify the parts
inside the package.
NewsML for Dummies
10
2 The AFP implementation
2.1 Simple text document
The simplest document is a flash story : it contains only mandatory elements (identification, creation date,
status), plus a headline, the provider, and a copyright.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE NewsML PUBLIC "urn:newsml:iptc.org:20001006:NewsMLv1.0:1" "http://www.afp.com/dtd/NewsMLv1.0.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % nitf SYSTEM "http://www.afp.com/dtd/nitf-2-5.dtd">
%nitf;
]>
<NewsML>
<Catalog Href="http://www.afp.com/dtd/AFPCatalog.xml"/>
<NewsEnvelope>
<DateAndTime>20000811T0818Z</DateAndTime>
</NewsEnvelope>
<NewsItem>
<Identification>
<NewsIdentifier>
<ProviderId>afp.com</ProviderId>
<DateId>20000811</DateId>
<NewsItemId>010607144425.x6pxrl6k</NewsItemId>
<RevisionId PreviousRevision="0" Update="N">1</RevisionId>
<PublicIdentifier>urn:NewsML:afp.com:20000811:010607144425.x6pxrl6k:1</PublicIdentifier>
</New sIdentifier>
</Identification>
<NewsManagement>
<NewsItemType FormalName="News"/>
<FirstCreated>20000811T0818Z</FirstCreated>
<ThisRevisionCreated>20000811T0818Z</ThisRevisionCreated>
<Status FormalName="Usable"/>
</NewsManagement>
<New sComponent>
<NewsLines >
<HeadLine>George W. Bush president (television)</HeadLine>
<CopyrightLine>© 2001 AFP</CopyrightLine>
</NewsLines >
<AdministrativeMetadata>
<Provider>
<Party FormalName="AFP"/>
</Provider>
</AdministrativeMetadata>
</NewsComponent>
</NewsItem>
</NewsML>
You feel it’s big ? perhaps, but the information you’ve got there allows a perfect handling of the story.
Let’s check the information here :
Encoding
The xml encoding is currently iso-8859-x : most of the current system support this type of charset, but
AFP will move to UTF8 when the majority of our customer systems support it.
Document validation
NewsML and NITF dtd references are set in the AFP documents using the following syntax :
<!DOCTYPE NewsML SYSTEM "http://ww.afp.com/dtd/NewsMLv1.0.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % nitf SYSTEM " http://ww.afp.com/dtd /nitf-2-5.dtd">
%nitf;
]>
You can see that the dtds have been copied to our web site to avoid a bottleneck on the iptc site.
NewsML for Dummies
11
As usually practiced in the XML community, AFP asks its customers to deactivate the NewsML
document validation in their parser in production mode, or if not possible to copy in the reception system
the NewsML DTD and modify in the received documents - before validation - the URL that references
the DTD, so the validation could be local.
Two main advantages to this :
- no Internet access to the DTD at each file opening,
- no access problem to the AFP site.
Note : AFP could later decide to suppress this string in production mode.
Catalog
o NewsML/Catalog/@Href : sets the URL of the file that contains the controlled vocabularies used
by AFP. This file is on-line on the AFP web site : most of the vocabularies are the standard IPTC
vocabularies, found on the IPTC web site; but Format, Property, Role, Language are customized
AFP vocabularies.
News envelope
o NewsML/NewsEnvelope/DateAndTime : transmission date. Like other dates, follows the
ISO8601 compact format, UTC based, using the Zulu (Z) syntax. Example : 20012805T1000Z is
equivalent to 20012805T1000+0000,
News item
The news item contains three parts : identification, management and a component.
News item identification
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/ProviderId : provider domain name (afp.com),
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/DateId : creation date of the document,
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/NewsItemId : item identifier, unique for the given
provider and date,
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/RevisionId : item revision (by default 1) ; AFP doesn’t
use item revision at he moment,
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/RevisionId/@PreviousRevision : previous revision (by
default 0),
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/RevisionId/@Update : update flag (always N) ; AFP
currently doesn’t use this feature,
o NewsItem/Identification/NewsIdentifier/PublicIdentifier : news item URN : this is the compact
representation of the previous identification elements,
o NewsItem/Identification/NameLabel : item name (slug),
News item managment
o NewsItem/NewsManagement/NewItemType/@FormalName : item type (News |Data |Advisory),
o NewsItem/NewsManagement/FirstCreated : creation date,
o NewsItem/NewsManagement/ThisRevisionCreated : last revision date,
o NewsItem/NewsManagement/Status/@FormalName : status (Usable |Canceled),
News item component
The news component contains newslines and administrative metadata.
o NewsComponent/NewsLines: textual information, directly publishable ; see below,
o NewsComponent/AdministrativeMetadata : administrative metadata ; see below,
NewsLines describe some directly publishable textual information :
o NewsLines/HeadLine : item title,
o NewsLines/CopyrightLine : AFP short copyright ,
NewsML for Dummies
12
The AdministrativeMetadata element defines some factual information :
o NewsComponent/AdministrativeMetadata/Provider/Party/@FormalName : provider (always
AFP).
This basic document has no content in the NewsComponent. Now let’s see a more complex document.
2.2 Simple multimedia document
The simplest multimedia document we can think of is a wire picture : it aggregates a text component (the
caption), an a binary component (the raw picture).
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE NewsML PUBLIC "urn:newsml:iptc.org:20001006:NewsMLv1.0:1" "http://www.afp.com/dtd/NewsMLv1.0.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % nitf SYSTEM "http://www.afp.com/dtd/nitf-2-5.dtd">
%nitf;
]>
<NewsML>
<Catalog Href="http://www.afp.com/dtd/AFPCatalog.xml"/>
<NewsEnvelope>
<DateAndTime>20010705T123552Z</DateAndTime>
</NewsEnvelope>
<NewsItem>
<Identification>
<NewsIdentifier>
<ProviderId>afp.com</ProviderId>
<DateId>20010705</DateId>
<NewsItemId>010705102423.s27th00q</NewsItemId>
<RevisionId PreviousRevision="0" Update="N">1</RevisionId>
<PublicIdentifier>urn:NewsML:afp.com:20010705:010705102423.s27th00q:1</PublicIdentifier>
</NewsIdentifier>
<NameLabel>MODE</NameLabel>
</Identification>
<NewsManagement>
<NewsItemType FormalName="News"/>
<FirstCreated>20010705T102425Z</FirstCreated>
<ThisRevisionCreated>20010705T102425Z</ThisRevisionCreated>
<Status FormalName="Usable"/>
</NewsManagement>
<NewsComponent>
<NewsLines >
<HeadLine>Mode: la haute couture défile à Paris la semaine prochaine</HeadLine>
<DateLine>FRANCE (AFP) </DateLine>
<CopyrightLine>© 2001 AFP</CopyrightLine>
</NewsLines >
<AdministrativeMetadata>
<Provider>
<Party FormalName="AFP"/>
</Provider>
<Creator>
<Party FormalName="JEAN-PIERRE MULLER"/>
</Creator>
</AdministrativeMetadata>
<NewsComponent>
<Role FormalName="Caption"/>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text"/>
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5"/>
<DataContent>
<p>les deux frères stylistes Vartan et Guevork Tarloyan posent en compagnie d'un mannequin
portant un chemisier de leur collection, le 21 juin 2001 à Paris, avant les présentations de haute couture qui auront lieu du
07 au 11 juillet 2001 à Paris.</p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
<NewsComponent>
<Role FormalName="Preview "/>
<ContentItem Href="SGE.SDI86.050701102222.photo00.default-384x256.jpg">
NewsML for Dummies
13
<MediaType FormalName="Photo"/>
<Characteristics>
<Property FormalName="Width" Value="384"/>
<Property FormalName="Height" Value="256"/>
</Characteristics>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
</NewsComponent>
</NewsItem>
</NewsML>
We already described the news item ; let’s focus on the NewsComponent.
News component
The main NewsComponent is now more complex :
o NewsComponent/NewsLines: textual information, directly publishable ; see below,
o NewsComponent/AdministrativeMetadata : administrative metadata ; see below,
o NewsComponent/NewsComponent : component (caption and picture) ; see below.
News lines
o NewsLines/HeadLine : item title,
o NewsLines/DateLine : origin of the information (date and place),
o NewsLines/CopyrightLine : AFP short copyright ,
Administrative metadata
o NewsComponent/AdministrativeMetadata/Provider/Party/@FormalName : provider (always
AFP).
o AdministrativeMetadata/Creator/Party/@FormalName : name of the creator,
Caption
The first NewsComponent (text) is the caption :
o NewsComponent/Role/@FormalName : component role (Caption),
o NewsComponent/ContentItem :content ; see below,
The ContentItem element of the caption includes :
o ContentItem/MediaType/@FormalName : component type (Text),
o ContentItem/Format/@FormalName : component format (bcNITF2.5),
o ContentItem/DataContent/p : caption content ; there is at the moment no tags inside the single
caption paragraph.
Picture
The other NewsComponent contains :
o NewsComponent/Role/@FormalName : component role (Preview),
o NewsComponent/ContentItem :content, see below,
The ContentItem element describes the illustration content :
o ContentItem/@Href : content file URL,
o ContentItem/MediaType/@FormalName : component media type (Photo …),
o ContentItem/Characteristics/Property[@FormalName="Width"]/@Value : image height,
o ContentItem/Characteristics/Property[@FormalName="Height"]/@Value : image width.
2.3 The text markup
AFP text components are marked-up using the NITF standard (again an IPTC standard, currently in
version 2.5, see www.nitf.org ).
An enriched text includes :
o paragraphs,
NewsML for Dummies
14
o illustration placeholders,
o preformatted string, sub-titles, tables, lists and other structural elements,
o organization codes.
« Illustrations » are photos, graphics and other media objects included in a document. A document can
include several such objects ; their recommended location is given before a paragraph tag, using a local
identifier that leads to another NewsML component identified by the same identifier attribute ; a
recommended style can be given for each illustration.
As seen in the previous example, AFP chose to use exclusively the ‘body.content’ part of NITF to
describe text, and to support a subset of NITF focused on structure, stripping layout markup. All metadata
are set at the NewsML level.
NITF being declared in the doctype, and DataContent being of type ANY, any NITF element can be put
as a child of the DataContent element. Using the ‘body.content’ element would be a waist of space, and
doesn’t mean much in this NewsML environment, so we use directly the elements found inside the
body.content element.
This subset of NITF is indicated by the format value used in the ContentItem/Format/@FormalName
element, which is set to “bcNITF2.5” (bc stands for ‘body content’). It would be great if other
implementers were using the same approach ;-). The MimeType element is not used in our
implementation.
To designate a text component, AFP uses the ContentItem/MediaType/@FormalName set to the value
“Text”.
Example fragment :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text"/>
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5"/>
<DataContent>
<p>France achieved 3.4 percent growth in 2000, up from a previous announcement of 3.3 percent
announced initially, the statistical office INSEE said on Friday.</p>
<p>It maintained its forecast for 2001 at 2.3 percent.</p>
<p> … </p>
<p> em/jmy/djw </p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
2.3.1 NITF elements
The DataContent element directly contains the enriched text elements :
o p : paragraph, can contain ‘a’ and ‘org’ tags (see below) ; the ‘lead’ is the first paragraph in the
content,
o hl2 : sub-title,
o ol : ordered list of ‘li’ elements,
o table : table,
o pre : preformatted string,
o media : placeholder for an illustration.
2.3.1.1 Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks – an <a> tag – are present inside a paragraph. They are usually used to link a document to an
external web site ; other classes of hyperlinks could be used in some AFP products.
a attributes :
o href : target URL
NewsML for Dummies
15
o name : link description
o title : title of the target content
o class : hyperlink class (website …).
o style : hyperlink style.
Web site hyperlink
This class of hyperlink points to a Web site page, which content is considered as complementary of the
current document.
The ‘class’ attribute is set to ‘webSite’ ; ‘href’ points to the site ; ‘name’ gives the site name ; the tag
content describes the link.
Such links are often put in a specific paragraph, at the end of the enriched text (a link ‘box’); the specific
role of this paragraph is given by the ‘class’ attribute, set to the ‘links’ value.
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<p> … </p>
<p> … </p>
<p class="links">
<a class="webSite" href="http://www.iptc.org " name="IPTC web site">More
information about IPTC</a>
</p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
2.3.1.2 Organization codes
Organization codes – the <org> tag – are present inside a paragraph. The ‘org’ tag contains the name of
an organization / company, and supports two mandatory attributes, ‘idsrc’ and ‘value’ ; it can contain also
a set of <alt-code> tags, that add alternates values.
org and alt-code attributes :
o idsrc : code vocabulary (ISIN or SICOVAM),
o value : organization code.
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<p>
<org idsrc="ISIN" value="FR0000130650" >
DASSAULT SYSTEMES
<alt-code idsrc="SICOVAM" value="13065" />
</org>
</p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
2.3.1.3 Sub-titles
Sub-titles – the <hl2> tag – are present before a paragraph. Their use in AFP products should growth in
the future.
NewsML for Dummies
16
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<hl2>Growth in France</ hl2>
<p>France achieved 3.4 percent growth in 2000, up from a previous announcement of 3.3 percent announced
initially, the statistical office INSEE said on Friday.</p>
<p> … </p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
2.3.1.4 Tables and lists
The NITF table uses the HTML syntax, and imposes the use of a ‘tbody’ element.
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>01</td>
<td>Michael Schumacher</td>
<td>Deutschland</td>
<td>Ferrari</td>
<td>1:20,447</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>02</td>
<td>Mika Häkkinen</td>
<td>Finnland</td>
<td>McLaren</td>
<td>1:20,529</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>03</td>
<td>David Coulthard</td>
<td>Schottland</td>
<td>McLaren</td>
<td>1:20,927</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
Note :
We hope that tbody won’t be mandatory anymore in NITF3.0 tables, and will follow XHTML rules.
2.3.1.5 Preformatted text
Some data formatted via a text editor have a presentation based on space entries (those are usually table -
like texts). To be able to exchange them correctly in xml, the spaces must be kept as is.
The <pre> tag is set for this purpose.
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
NewsML for Dummies
17
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<pre>
01 Michael Schumacher
Deutschland
Ferrari
1:20,447
02 Mika Häkkinen
Finnland
McLaren
1:20,529
03 David Coulthard
Schottland
McLaren
1:20,927
</pre>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
2.3.1.6 Illustration placeholders
The <media> element shows the recommended location for an illustration ; such a location is set between
two paragraphs. The illustration is described in details in a <NewsComponent> element, outside the text
part. The ‘data-location’ attribute identifies the component (as an XML fragment identifier). The
component gets a local id, and contains the object metadata, including its URL.
1. DataContent/media/@media -type : illustration type (image | audio | video | other),
2. DataContent/media/@style : style of the illustration (position along the text),
3. DataContent/media/media -reference/@data-location : pointer to the component (‘fragment
identifier’, beginning with a ‘#’),
4. DataContent/media/media -reference/@mime-type : mime type of the illustration (this
mandatory attribute is empty at the moment),
Example :
<NewsComponent>
<ContentItem>
<MediaType FormalName="Text" />
<Format FormalName="bcNITF2.5" />
<DataContent>
<media media-type="image" style="leftSide">
<media-reference mime-type="" data-location="#photo0" />
</media>
<p>
text …
</p>
</DataContent>
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
<NewsComponent Duid="photo0">
<ContentItem Href="….jpg">
<MediaType FormalName="Photo" />
</ContentItem>
</NewsComponent>
Notes :
1. We hope that the media element will be simplified in NITF3.0, as its use in a NewsML environment
isn’t optimized at the moment.
2. The media -type vocabulary (image | audio | video | other) is different from the NewsML MediaType
vocabulary in the IPTC TopicSet (Text | Graphic | Photo | Audio | Video |Animation), used by AFP. We
hope that NITF3.0 will follow the new IPTC vocabulary.
NewsML for Dummies
18
2.4 AFP Controlled vocabularies
AFP did customizes some IPTC controlled vocabularies.
2.4.1 Roles
AFP publishes a list of roles in its Catalog, via the file “topicset.afp-role.xml”.
Current roles are :
Ø Main : Principal component.
Ø Supporting : Additional information that amplifies the original theme.
Ø Links : Links to related information.
Ø Thumbnail : A news-component substitute, smaller than the original, used for convenience.
Ø Quicklook : A news-component substitute, smaller than the original, used for convenience ;
bigger than a thumbnail.
Ø Preview : A partial (possibly random) rendition of a news-component, such as a segment of video
or audio ; if an image, rendered full screen.
Ø Caption : Text providing information about the related content.
Ø Abstract : A summary or synopsis featuring the most important points of a news-component.
Ø Comments : Comments on the NewsItem.
Ø Description : A description of the NewsItem.
2.4.2 Formats
AFP publishes a list of formats in its Catalog, via the file “topicset.afp-format.xml”.
Current formats are :
Ø NITF2.5 : News Industry Text Format version 2.5.
Ø bcNITF2.5 : body content portion of NITF 2.5.
Ø NITF3.0 : News Industry Text Format version 3.0.
Ø bcNITF3.0 : body content portion of NITF 3.0.
Ø XHTML : Extensible HyperText Markup Language
Ø JPEG : Join Photographic Experts Group.
Ø GIF : Graphical Interchange Format.
Ø PNG : Portable Network Graphics.
Ø EPS : Encapsulated Postscript File
Ø PDF : Portable Document Format (Adobe)
2.4.3 Properties
AFP publishes a list of properties in its Catalog, via the file “topicset.afp-format.xml”.
Current properties are :
Ø Width : Width of an image in pixels.
Ø Height : Height of an image in pixels .
Ø Country : Originating country of an information.
Ø Area : Originating region or state of an information.
Ø City : Originating city of an information.
Ø Sublocation : Originating sublocation of an information.
Ø Keyword : Keyword related to the information.
NewsML for Dummies
19
