For over twenty years DCMI has sought to balance the need to clearly state that DCMI metadata terms are based on RDF with a need to point out that the standard is also, in some sense, technology neutral.

In the 2000s, it was controversial within DCMI to commit too strongly to RDF. The DCMI Abstract Model was developed between 2003 and 2007 as an RDF-compatible replacement for a metadata model that had emerged from DC workshops and conferences between 1996 and 2001 and that was unique to DCMI.

The Abstract Model never found wide adoption, perhaps because it was seen as too formal and RDF-like for people who were used to seeing metadata as ad-hoc document structures (eg, MARC, XML) while not being recognized by the Semantic Web community as something clearly based on RDF. Instead of bridging a gap, it fell between two stools.

Might we formulate a public position on this question to be featured prominently on the website?