Embedding Metadata and Other Semantics in Word Processing Documents

This paper describes a technique for embedding document metadata, and potentially other semantic references inline in word processing documents, which the authors have implemented with the help of a software development team. Several assumptions are inherent in the approach; It must be available across computing platforms and work with both Microsoft Word (because of its user base) and OpenOffice.org (because of its free availability). Furthermore, the application needs to be acceptable to and usable by users, so the initial implementation covers only a small number of features, which will only be extended after user testing. Within these constraints, the system provides a mechanism for encoding not only simple metadata, but for inferring hierarchical relationships between metadata elements from a ‘flat ’ word processing file. The paper includes links to open source code implementing the techniques as part of a broader suite of tools for academic writing. This addresses tools and software, semantic web and data curation and integrating curation into research workflows. It will also provide a platform for integrating work on ontologies, vocabularies and folksonomies into word processing tools1