<conceptId qcode="ex-access:restricted" />Preview. Built from the published NewsML-G2 documents by tools/prosedoc. This layout is a harness for reviewing structure — it is not the published site.
12. Knowledge Items
12.1. Introduction
When news happens, the event rarely takes place in isolation. There will be a series of relationships between the news event and the people, places and organisations that are directly or indirectly involved. Many of these entities will be well-known, and readers of the news may expect to be able to navigate to further information about these entities, or to find other events in which they are involved. This expectation is heavily fostered by people’s familiarity with the Web: they expect to be able to click on the name of, say, a company and see more information about it.
There will also be references to abstract notions such as subject classifications that enable the news event to be searched and sorted according to user preferences.
To fully exploit the value of their services, news organisations need to be able to exchange this supporting information in an industry-standard way that can be processed using standard technology.
As described in the previous chapter Concepts and Concept Items, NewsML-G2 has powerful features for encapsulating this detailed information about entities and notions, but the Concept Item can convey only a single concept, while the Knowledge Item is able to convey many of them, even a full taxonomy.
For example, a profile of, say, Vladimir Putin can be conveyed in a Concept. By including this Concept in a set of similar Concepts profiling world leaders, we can create and exchange a Knowledge Base of political personalities that can be updated and referred to over time.
The level of detail of information that a provider may make available in a Knowledge Item will depend on its business model and relationship with the receiving customer(s). Providers may make variable levels of information available according to subscription since it is clear that the content of their Knowledge Bases is likely to be valuable.
There are also opportunities for third-party providers of specialist information to partner with providers and customers to create value-added knowledge services using a NewsML-G2 infrastructure.
IPTC NewsCodes are controlled vocabularies maintained as Knowledge Items and are available on the IPTC web site at http://www.iptc.org/newscodes/. Choose View NewsCodes and follow instructions for downloading any of the CVs.
12.2. Example: a Knowledge Item for <accessStatus>
One of the available properties for describing a news event is <accessStatus> to provide information about the physical accessibility of the place where an event is due to occur.
The property takes a QCode value:
As there is no IPTC NewsCodes scheme currently defined for Access Status, any provider wishing to include this information would need to create a Controlled Vocabulary.
This example shows a Knowledge Item which defines a Controlled Vocabulary of Access Status terms. This CV would be available as a Knowledge Item, with names and definitions in English, French and German, as shown below:
| Value | Names | Definitions |
|---|---|---|
easy |
Easy Facile d’accès Der Zugang ist einfach |
Unrestricted access for vehicles and equipment. Loading bays and/or lifts for unimpeded access to all levels Un accès sans restriction pour les véhicules et l’équipement. Les quais de chargement et / ou des ascenseurs pour l’accès sans entrave à tous les niveaux Ungehinderten Zugang für Fahrzeuge und Ausrüstung. Laderampen und / oder Aufzüge für den uneingeschränkten Zugang zu allen Ebenen |
restricted |
Access is Restricted Accès Restreint Der Zugang ist eingeschränkt |
Access for vehicles and equipment possible but restricted. There may be obstacles, height or width restrictions that will impede large or heavy items. Advise checking with the organizers. L’accès des véhicules et de matériel possible, mais limitée. Il y mai être des obstacles, la hauteur ou la largeur des restrictions qui empêchent les grandes ou d’objets lourds. Conseiller à la vérification avec les organisateurs. Zugang für Fahrzeuge und Ausrüstung möglich, aber eingeschränkt. Möglicherweise gibt es Hindernisse, Höhe und Breite, die Beschränkungen behindern große oder schwere Gegenstände. Beraten Sie mit dem Veranstalter in Verbindung |
difficult |
Access is difficult L’accès est difficile Der Zugang ist schwierig |
Access includes stairways with no lift or ramp available. It will not be possible to install bulky or heavy equipment that cannot be safely carried by one person Comprend l’accès aux escaliers ou la rampe sans ascenseur disponible. Il ne sera pas possible d’installer des équipements lourds ou volumineux qui ne peuvent pas être transportés en sécurité par une seule personne Access enthält Treppen ohne Fahrstuhl oder Rampe zur Verfügung. Es wird nicht möglich sein, installieren sperrige oder schwere Geräte, die sich nicht sicher befördert werden von einer Person |
12.3. Structure and Properties
Knowledge Items share a common structure with News Items, Package Items and Concept Items.
| This Chapter assumes that the reader is familiar with the chapter on Concepts and Concept Items. |
12.3.1. The <knowledgeItem> element
The top level element of a Knowledge Item is <knowledgeItem>, which contains id, versioning and catalog information.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<knowledgeItem xmlns="http://iptc.org/std/nar/2006-10-01/"
guid="urn:newsml:iptc.org:20090202:ncdki-accesscode"
version="18"
standard="NewsML-G2"
standardversion="2.35"
conformance="power">
<catalogRef
href="http://www.iptc.org/std/catalog/catalog.IPTC-G2-Standards_41.xml" />12.3.2. Item Metadata
The <itemMeta> block contains management metadata for the Knowledge Item document. Below is a minimum set of properties.
The Item Class property should use the IPTC "Nature of Concept Item" NewsCodes (scheme alias "cinat"). The appropriate value in the case of sending a CV or taxonomy is "scheme", denoting that this is a full scheme of concepts contained in this Knowledge Item.
<itemMeta>
<itemClass qcode="cinat:scheme" />
<provider qcode="nprov:IPTC" />
<versionCreated>2025-11-08T00:00:00Z</versionCreated>
<pubStatus qcode="stat:usable" />
</itemMeta>12.3.3. Content Metadata
The optional <contentMeta> block contains Administrative Metadata and Descriptive Metadata shared by the concepts conveyed by the <conceptSet>.
Administrative Metadata
This example timestamps the content:
<contentMeta>
<contentModified>2009-01-28T13:00:00Z</contentModified>
...More details about informing receivers about changes to Knowledge Item content are contained in Handling Updates to Knowledge Items using @modified
Descriptive Metadata
The descriptive metadata properties <subject> and <description> may be used by Knowledge items, in any order. They are optional and repeatable. This example uses the <description> element:
<description xml:lang="en">
Classification of the ease of gaining physical access to the location of
a news event for the purpose of deploying personnel, vehicles and equipment.
</description>
<description xml:lang="fr">
Classification de la facilité d'obtenir un accès physique à l'emplacement d'un événement pour
le déploiement de personnel, de véhicules et d'équipements.
</description>
<description xml:lang="de">
Klassifikation der physischen Zugriff auf den Standort eines News Termine für Die Zwecke der
Bereitstellung von Personal, Fahrzeugen und Ausrüstungen.
</description>12.3.4. Concept Set
A single <conceptSet> element wraps zero or more <concept> components. The order of the Concepts is not important. Properties of <concept> are optional and described in Concepts and Concept Items.
Each member of the CV requires its own <concept> wrapper with a Concept ID and Name within the Concept Set:
<conceptSet>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:easy" />
<name xml:lang="en">Easy access</name>
...
</concept>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:difficult" />
<name xml:lang="en">Access is difficult</name>
...
</concept>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:restricted" />
<name xml:lang="en">Access is Restricted</name>
...
</concept>
</conceptSet>Each Concept also has a <definition> in three languages that gives further details in natural language, for example the English definition:
<definition xml:lang="en">
Access for vehicles and equipment possible but restricted. There may be
obstacles, height or width restrictions that will impede large or heavy
items. Advise checking with the organisers.
</definition>This completes the first Concept in the <conceptSet>. The two other concepts in the CV are added in a similar fashion.
12.3.5. Scheme Metadata
The <schemeMeta> element enables a Knowledge Item to support similar properties to the <scheme> in a Catalog. It should be noted that <schemeMeta> is used to express metadata about the scheme being conveyed, and should ONLY be used where the Knowledge Item contains all the concepts from a single scheme, as denoted by:
<itemClass qcode="cinat:scheme"/>The <schemeMeta> element is used after <conceptSet> and contains the same attributes and child properties of <scheme> in a catalog, with the exception of @alias, but has the following additional properties:
The optional child elements <related>, which enables implementers to express the top-level concept(s) of a scheme, a requirement of SKOS, and <concepttype> listing the concept types that are used within the Knowledge Item. Please note the IPTC recommends that if <concepttype> is used, ALL concept types in the scheme are listed.
The attributes @authority, to indicate the party that controls the scheme, and @preferredalias, which indicates the scheme authority’s recommended scheme alias to be used with QCodes.
As with <scheme>, the <schemeMeta> element has the optional attributes schemecreated, schememodified and schemeretired to record the date and optionally the time of changes to the scheme.
If a scheme is marked as retired using schemeretired, then ALL concepts in that scheme (identified by the schemeMeta @uri) must also be retired.
|
<schemeMeta uri="http://cv.example.org/newscodes/ex-access/"
authority="http://www.example.org" preferredalias="ex-access"
schemecreated="2010-10-01T12:00:00.000Z"
schememodified="2025-09-22T12:00:00.000Z">
<definition xml:lang="en-GB">Classification of the ease of gaining physical access
to the location of a news event for the purpose of deploying personnel,
vehicles and equipment.</definition>
<name xml:lang="en-GB">Ease of Access/name>
<related qcode="ex-access:easy" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="ex-access:difficult" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="ex-access:restricted" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<schemeMeta/>LISTING 12: Knowledge Item for Access Codes
All Scheme Aliases used in the listing below indicate IPTC NewsCodes vocabularies, except for ex-access.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<knowledgeItem
xmlns="http://iptc.org/std/nar/2006-10-01/"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://iptc.org/std/nar/2006-10-01/
./NewsML-G2_2.35-spec-All-Power.xsd"
guid="urn:newsml:iptc.org:20090202:ncdki-accesscode" version="18"
standard="NewsML-G2"
standardversion="2.35"
conformance="power" >
<catalogRef
href="http://www.iptc.org/std/catalog/catalog.IPTC-G2-Standards_41.xml" />
<itemMeta>
<itemClass qcode="cinat:scheme" />
<provider qcode="nprov:IPTC" />
<versionCreated>2025-11-08T00:00:00Z</versionCreated>
<pubStatus qcode="stat:usable" />
</itemMeta>
<contentMeta>
<contentCreated>2009-01-28T12:00:00Z</contentCreated>
<contentModified>2009-01-28T13:00:00Z</contentModified>
<description xml:lang="en">
Classification of the ease of gaining physical access to the location of a news
event for the purpose of deploying personnel, vehicles and equipment.
</description>
<description xml:lang="fr">
Classification de la facilité d'obtenir un accès physique à l'emplacement d'un
événement pour le déploiement de personnel, de véhicules et d'équipements.
</description>
<description xml:lang="de">
Klassifikation der physischen Zugriff auf den Standort eines News Termine für
Die Zwecke der Bereitstellung von Personal, Fahrzeugen und Ausrüstungen.
</description>
</contentMeta>
<conceptSet>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:easy" />
<name xml:lang="en">Easy access</name>
<name xml:lang="fr">Facile d'accès</name>
<name xml:lang="de">Der Zugang ist einfach</name>
<definition xml:lang="en">
Unrestricted access for vehicles and equipment. Loading bays
and/or lifts for unimpeded access to all levels
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="fr">
Un accès sans restriction pour les véhicules et l'équipement. Les quais de
chargement et / ou des ascenseurs pour l'accès sans entrave à tous les
niveaux
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="de">
Ungehinderten Zugang für Fahrzeuge und Ausrüstung. Laderampen und / oder
Aufzüge für den uneingeschränkten Zugang zu allen Ebenen
</definition>
</concept>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:difficult" />
<name xml:lang="en">Access is difficult</name>
<name xml:lang="fr">L'accès est difficile</name>
<name xml:lang="de">Der Zugang ist schwierig</name>
<definition xml:lang="en">
Access includes stairways with no lift or ramp available. It will not be
possible to install bulky or heavy equipment that cannot be safely carried
by one person
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="fr">
Comprend l'accès aux escaliers ou la rampe sans ascenseur disponible. Il ne
sera pas possible d'installer des équipements lourds ou volumineux qui ne
peuvent pas être transportés en sécurité par une seule personne
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="de">
Access enthält Treppen ohne Fahrstuhl oder Rampe zur Verfügung. Es wird nicht
möglich sein, installieren sperrige oder schwere Geräte, die sich nicht
sicher befördert werden von einer Person
</definition>
</concept>
<concept>
<conceptId qcode="ex-access:restricted" />
<name xml:lang="en">Access is Restricted</name>
<name xml:lang="fr">Accès Restreint</name>
<name xml:lang="de">Der Zugang ist eingeschränkt</name>
<definition xml:lang="en">
Access for vehicles and equipment possible but restricted. There may be
obstacles, height or width restrictions that will impede large or heavy
items. Advise checking with the organisers.
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="fr">
L'accès des véhicules et de matériel possible, mais limitée. Il y mai être
des obstacles, la hauteur ou la largeur des restrictions qui empêchent les
grandes ou d'objets lourds. Conseiller à la vérification avec les
organisateurs.
</definition>
<definition xml:lang="de">
Zugang für Fahrzeuge und Ausrüstung möglich, aber eingeschränkt.
Möglicherweise gibt es Hindernisse, Höhe und Breite, die Beschränkungen
behindern große oder schwere Gegenstände. Beraten Sie mit dem Veranstalter in
Verbindung
</definition>
</concept>
</conceptSet>
<schemeMeta uri="http://cv.example.org/newscodes/ex-access/"
authority="http://www.example.org" preferredalias="ex-access"
schemecreated="2010-10-01T12:00:00.000Z"
schememodified="2025-09-22T12:00:00.000Z">
<definition xml:lang="en-GB">Classification of the ease of gaining physical access
to the location of a news event for the purpose of deploying personnel,
vehicles and equipment.</definition>
<name xml:lang="en-GB">Ease of Access</name>
<related qcode="ex-access:easy" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="ex-access:difficult" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="ex-access:restricted" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
</schemeMeta>
</knowledgeItem>12.4. Knowledge Workflow
The diagram below shows a possible information flow for news information that exploits the possibilities of NewsML-G2 Concepts and Knowledge Items to add value to news:
Figure: Information Flow for Concepts and Knowledge Items
Increasingly, news organisations are using entity extraction engines to find "things" mentioned in news objects. The results of these automated processes may be checked and refined by journalists. The goal is to classify news as richly as possible and to identify people, organisations, places and other entities before sending it to customers, in order to increase its value and usefulness.
This entity extraction process will throw up exceptions – unrecognised and potentially new concepts – that may need to be added to the Knowledge Base. Some news organisations have dedicated documentation departments to research new concepts and maintain the Knowledge Base.
When new concepts are submitted to the Knowledge Base, they are added to the appropriate taxonomy and may be made available to customers (depending on the business model adopted) either partially or fully as Knowledge Items.
12.5. Using NewsML-G2 Knowledge Items with SKOS
The Simple Knowledge Organisation System is a W3C standard for using RDF-based means to share information about knowledge organization systems (see www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/).
The IPTC Media Topic NewsCodes are a working example of how a NewsML-G2 Knowledge Item may have features added that can align a NewsML-G2 Scheme to SKOS using the <related> child element of <concept> and <schemeMeta>.
For example, the Media Topic for the sport of biathlon, part of the Media Topics scheme (http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/mediatopic/):
<concept id="medtop20000852" modified="2025-12-14T21:53:19+00:00">
<conceptId qcode="medtop:20000852" created="2009-10-22T02:00:00+00:00"/>
<type qcode="cpnat:abstract"/>
<name xml:lang="en-GB">biathlon</name>
<definition xml:lang="en-GB">A combination of cross country skiing and target
shooting on a 12.5 K course in a pursuit format. </definition>
<broader qcode="medtop:20000822"/>
<related qcode="medtop:20000822" rel="skos:broader"/>
<related qcode="subj:15009000" rel="skos:exactMatch"/>
<related uri="http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/mediatopic/" rel="skos:inScheme"/>
</concept>This uses the NewsML-G2 <broader> property to express that the
‘’biathlon’’ topic (medtop:20000852) is a child of the "competition
discipline" topic (medtop:20000822), and this is complemented by the
using a <related> to indicate the same relationship by the SKOS term
"skos:broader". The second <related> element indicates that the legacy
IPTC Subject Code NewsCodes 15009000 is the exact match (G2 = <sameAs>)
for this Media Topic.
The CV also contains a Scheme Metadata element as follows:
<schemeMeta uri="http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/mediatopic/"
authority="http://www.iptc.org" preferredalias="medtop">
<definition xml:lang="en-GB">Indicates a subject of an item.</definition>
<name xml:lang="en-GB">Media Topic</name>
<note xml:lang="en-GB">The Media Topic NewsCodes is IPTC's new (as of December
2010) 1100-term taxonomy with a focus on text. The development started with the
Subject Codes and extended the tree to 5 levels and reused the same 17 top
level terms. The terms below the top level have been revised and rearranged.
Each Media Topic provides a mapping back to one of the Subject Codes.
</note>
<related qcode="medtop:01000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:02000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:03000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:04000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:05000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:06000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:07000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:08000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:09000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:10000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:11000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:12000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:13000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:14000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:15000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:16000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
<related qcode="medtop:17000000" rel="skos:hasTopConcept"/>
</schemeMeta>This satisfies the SKOS requirement to indicate the top-level concepts of any scheme.
The current structure of NewsML-G2 Knowledge Items delivered by IPTC is documented at http://dev.iptc.org/NewsCodes-G2-Knowledge-Items-by-IPTC