Core Components of the IPTC News Architecture

The main components of the IPTC News Architecture are:

NewsItem

The NewsItem is a container for any single piece of journalistic content such as text, images, video or audio.

PackageItem

The PackageItem is a container for references to a group of NewsItems (or any other Items). This can be used, for example, to associate text with images, audio and/or video content.

PlanningItem

The PlanningItem is used to manage the journalistic production workflow. A PlanningItem might be created by a managing editor when news breaks. The basic framework of a story is created and resources allocated (a journalist, a freelancer or an entire news crew). Perhaps a time slot is allocated in the running order of the nightly news programme. The PlanningItem can change and evolve to support a developing story, and one or more NewsItems and PackageItems might be created as a result.

CatalogItem

The CatalogItem is used to maintain references to controlled vocabularies, stored as KnowledgeItems. Each NewsItem should identify which catalog of controlled vocabularies it can refer to, so that each NewsItem can stand alone.

ConceptItem

The ConceptItem represents a single item from a controlled vocabulary. In addition to names and definitions in multiple languages, a Concept can refer to other concepts to indicate a hierarchy of broader and narrower terms (using W3C’s SKOS relationship types)

KnowledgeItem

The KnowledgeItem is a set of Concepts which can include hierarchical references between concepts. KnowledgeItems are fully SKOS-compliant controlled vocabularies, with some extensions such as retired and modified dates.