C:Audience

Definition: A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful.

Obligation: Recommended.

What is this element?

This is a grouping of persons or organisations for whom the resource has been explicitly designed and formatted.

A wide interpretation of the words 'intended or useful' in the definition above could lead to a conclusion that most information agencies publish will be at least potentially useful to most groups. If that interpretation was taken search results will be swapped with much un-targeted material. For resources that are of wide interest, use the NZGLS Audience value "All".

The Audience element allows search engine and portal designers to provide personalised or targeted views. For example, use of the Audience element supports direct targeting of:

• specific community sectors such as families, youth, rural and seniors, demographic or socioeconomic groups;
• particular industry sectors;
• education levels, skill levels;
• occupations; and
• EEO (Equal Employment Opportunities) categories.

Audience and other elements

The difference between Audience and Subject is that Audience is who the resource is for; Subject is who the resource is about. Coverage defines limits to Subject groups. [Refer also to Section B.7.2]

Repetition

Audience can be repeated. For example, this might be done where more than one scheme is used, or for precision when using a scheme which has broad categories such as NZGLS Audience Encoding Scheme.

Do not repeat the element with values from the same scheme more than three times to try and cover multiple groups - find a broader term instead, or re-think whether the resource has been explicitly designed and formatted for the groups you are considering.

Qualifiers

Controlled Vocabularies

Best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme. Using a controlled vocabulary encourages consistency. Metadata creators can be confident that they are using the same term each time, and users can have confidence that one term finds all the relevant records.

• NZGLS Audience Vocabulary - see Appendix 4.

Agencies might want to suggest additional Audience terms to the Thesaurus Advisory Group (TAG).

There are classification schemes that are used in particular sectors. These may be used in addition to the NZGLS Audience Vocabulary. If you use one of these other classification schemes, please notify the NZGLS maintenance agency. Examples of other classification schemes that might be used are:

• ANZSIC - Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification
• NZSCO99 - New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations 1999
• NZSC - New Zealand Standard Classification for Age 1995

Where a target audience is described using a numbered index such as ANZSIC or NZSCO99, give the term also, so that a searcher can use either the code or the term.

Examples