Simple Publishing Interface

This European Standard specifies the Simple Publishing Interface (SPI), an abstract protocol for publishing digital content and/or the metadata that describes it into repositories in a way that preserves the references between the two. This protocol is designed to facilitate the transfer of learning materials from tools that produce learning materials to applications that manage learning objects and metadata. It is also applicable to the publication of a wider range of digital objects.
The objectives behind SPI are to develop practical approaches towards interoperability between repositories for learning and applications that produce or consume educational materials. Examples of repositories for learning include educational brokers, knowledge pools, institutional repositories, streaming video servers, etc. Examples of applications that produce these educational materials are query and indexation tools, authoring tools, presentation programs, content packagers, etc.
Whilst the development of the SPI specification draws exclusively on examples from the education sector, it is recognised that the underlying requirement to publish content and metadata into repositories crosses multiple application domains.
This abstract model has been designed to be implemented using existing specifications such as v1.3 Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) profile [SWORD], Package Exchange Notification Services [PENS] and the publishing specification that was developed in the ProLearn Network of Excellence [PROLEARN SPI]. The intent of this work is thus not to create yet another specification but to create a model that can be bound to existing technologies in order to make sure that these technologies are used in a way that takes into account requirements specific to the learning domain, where it is necessary to publish both content and metadata that references it in a way that preserves these references.
The SPI model enumerates the different messages that are interchanged when publishing metadata and content.

Schnittstelle für einfaches Publizieren (Simple Publishing Interface - SPI)

Interface de publication simple

La présente Norme européenne spécifie l'interface de publication simple (SPI), un protocole abstrait de publication de contenu numérique et/ou de métadonnées qui le décrivent, dans des entrepôts de données, en préservant les références qui les relient. Ce protocole est conçu pour faciliter le transfert de documents pédagogiques depuis des outils qui produisent des documents pédagogiques vers des applications qui gèrent des objets et des métadonnées pédagogiques. Il permet également de publier une plus large gamme d'objets numériques.
L'interface SPI a pour objectifs de développer des approches concrètes garantissant l'interopérabilité entre des entrepôts de données pédagogiques et des applications qui produisent ou utilisent des documents éducatifs. Parmi les exemples d'entrepôts de données figurent les courtiers en enseignement, les viviers de connaissances, les entrepôts de données institutionnels, les serveurs de diffusion de vidéos, etc. Les applications qui produisent ces documents éducatifs sont, par exemple, des outils de requête et d'indexation, des outils de création, des programmes de présentation, des systèmes de paquetages de contenus, etc.
Bien que la spécification de l'interface SPI ait été élaborée en s'appuyant uniquement sur des exemples issus du secteur de l'éducation, il est évident que l'exigence sous-jacente concernant la publication de contenus et de métadonnées dans des entrepôts de données s'applique à d'autres domaines.
Ce modèle abstrait a été conçu pour être mis en oeuvre à l'aide de spécifications existantes, telles que le profil [SWORD] (Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit) v1.3, [PENS] (Package Exchange Notification Services) et la spécification de publication développée dans le réseau d'excellence ProLearn [PROLEARN SPI]. Par conséquent, l'objectif de ce travail n'est pas de créer une spécification de plus, mais de créer un modèle pouvant être relié aux technologies existantes, de façon à garantir que l'utilisation de ces technologies tiendra compte des exigences spécifiques au domaine de l'apprentissage, dans lequel il est nécessaire de publier à la fois des contenus et des métadonnées qui le référencent tout en préservant ces références.
Le modèle d'interface SPI énumère les différents messages qui sont échangés lors de la publication de métadonnées et de contenus.

Vmesnik za enostavno objavljanje

Standard EN 16425 opisuje vmesnik za enostavno objavljanje (SPI), abstrakten protokol za objavljanje digitalne vsebine in/ali metapodatkov, ki to vsebino opisujejo, v shrambo na način, ki ohranja sklicevanja med obema. Ta protokol je namenjen lajšanju prenosa učnega gradiva iz orodij, ki proizvajajo učna gradiva, v aplikacije, ki upravljajo učne objekte in metapodatke. Uporablja se tudi za objavljanje širšega razpona digitalnih objektov. Cilj modela SPI je razvoj praktičnih pristopov k interoperabilnosti med shrambami za učenje in aplikacijami, ki proizvajajo ali izkoriščajo izobraževalno gradivo. Med primere shramb za učenje spadajo izobraževalni posredniki, bazeni znanja, institucionalne shrambe, strežniki s pretočnim prenosom videogradiva itd. Med primere aplikacij, ki proizvajajo ta izobraževalna gradiva, spadajo orodja za poizvedbo in indeksacijo, avtorska orodja, predstavitveni programi, oblikovalci vsebine itd. Medtem ko razvoj specifikacije SPI temelji izključno na primerih iz izobraževalnega sektorja, se priznava, da osnovna zahteva za objavo vsebin in metapodatkov v shrambe prečka več domen aplikacij. Ta abstraktni model je bil zasnovan za izvajanje z uporabo obstoječih specifikacij, kot je profil Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) v1.3 [SWORD], Package Exchange Notification Services [PENS] in specifikacija za objavljanje, ki je bila razvita v omrežju ProLearn Network of Excellence [PROLEARN SPI]. Namen tega dokumenta torej ni ustvariti še ene specifikacije, ampak izdelati model, ki ga je mogoče uporabljati z obstoječimi tehnologijami, da bi pri uporabi teh tehnologij upoštevali zahteve, specifične za učno domeno, kadar je potrebno objaviti vsebino in metapodatke s takim sklicevanjem, ki ohranja ta sklicevanja. Model SPI oštevilčuje različna sporočila, ki se izmenjavajo pri objavi metapodatkov in vsebine.

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
08-Jul-2014
Withdrawal Date
30-Jan-2015
ICS
35.240.30 - IT applications in information, documentation and publishing
 
35.240.99 - IT applications in other fields
Technical Committee
CEN/TC 353 - Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education and Training
Drafting Committee
CEN/TC 353 - Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education and Training
Current Stage
9060 - Closure of 2 Year Review Enquiry - Review Enquiry
Start Date
02-Sep-2025
Completion Date
02-Sep-2025
Ref Project
SIST EN 16425:2014 - Simple Publishing Interface

Overview

EN 16425:2014 - Simple Publishing Interface (SPI) is a CEN European Standard that defines an abstract protocol for publishing digital content and the metadata that describes it into repositories while preserving the references between content and metadata. Designed originally for the education sector, SPI supports interoperability between tools that produce learning materials (authoring tools, content packagers, LMS plugins) and applications that manage learning objects and metadata (institutional repositories, educational brokers, streaming servers).

Key topics and technical requirements

  • Preserve content–metadata references: SPI requires that relationships between a digital resource and its descriptive metadata are maintained during publication.
  • Abstract protocol model: SPI is an abstract model (semantic interoperability) intended to be bound to concrete transport/binding technologies to achieve syntactic interoperability.
  • Support for “by value” and “by reference” publishing:
    • By value: embedding resources in the publish message (useful for desktop or isolated clients).
    • By reference: providing a reference/URL so the target retrieves the resource (suitable for large files).
  • Defined message classes: the model enumerates standard messages such as submit resource, delete resource, submit metadata, delete metadata, and error reporting.
  • Flexible deployment: supports direct publishing to repositories and middleware architectures that transform, disaggregate, validate, or enrich content before storage.
  • Authentication and error handling: SPI specifies authentication considerations and a taxonomy of errors (e.g., invalid token, validation failure, unsupported content type).
  • Design principles: focuses on minimal, extensible commands and separation of data and metadata to enable reuse across varied repository types.

Applications and who should use it

  • Repository implementers (institutional repositories, knowledge pools, streaming video servers) to accept standardized publish requests while preserving metadata links.
  • LMS and authoring tool vendors (Moodle, Blackboard plugins, PowerPoint add-ins) to integrate one-click publishing from authoring workflows.
  • Middleware and integration platforms that disaggregate content, auto-generate metadata, validate packages, or adapt to third‑party repository APIs.
  • Content packagers, indexers, and harvesters to push learning objects and metadata into interoperable back-ends.
  • Digital library and educational technology architects seeking practical interoperability between producers and consumers of learning resources.

Related standards and bindings

  • SWORD v1.3 (Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit) - example binding technology.
  • PENS (Package Exchange Notification Services) - example for package submission.
  • PROLEARN SPI - earlier publishing specification used in design.
  • Other complementary technologies mentioned: OAI‑PMH, SQI, and MACE architectures for metadata enrichment.

EN 16425:2014 is valuable for teams implementing interoperable publishing flows for learning objects and broader digital content, enabling consistent publication practices across educational and repository ecosystems.

Frequently Asked Questions

EN 16425:2014 is a standard published by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Its full title is "Simple Publishing Interface". This standard covers: This European Standard specifies the Simple Publishing Interface (SPI), an abstract protocol for publishing digital content and/or the metadata that describes it into repositories in a way that preserves the references between the two. This protocol is designed to facilitate the transfer of learning materials from tools that produce learning materials to applications that manage learning objects and metadata. It is also applicable to the publication of a wider range of digital objects. The objectives behind SPI are to develop practical approaches towards interoperability between repositories for learning and applications that produce or consume educational materials. Examples of repositories for learning include educational brokers, knowledge pools, institutional repositories, streaming video servers, etc. Examples of applications that produce these educational materials are query and indexation tools, authoring tools, presentation programs, content packagers, etc. Whilst the development of the SPI specification draws exclusively on examples from the education sector, it is recognised that the underlying requirement to publish content and metadata into repositories crosses multiple application domains. This abstract model has been designed to be implemented using existing specifications such as v1.3 Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) profile [SWORD], Package Exchange Notification Services [PENS] and the publishing specification that was developed in the ProLearn Network of Excellence [PROLEARN SPI]. The intent of this work is thus not to create yet another specification but to create a model that can be bound to existing technologies in order to make sure that these technologies are used in a way that takes into account requirements specific to the learning domain, where it is necessary to publish both content and metadata that references it in a way that preserves these references. The SPI model enumerates the different messages that are interchanged when publishing metadata and content.

This European Standard specifies the Simple Publishing Interface (SPI), an abstract protocol for publishing digital content and/or the metadata that describes it into repositories in a way that preserves the references between the two. This protocol is designed to facilitate the transfer of learning materials from tools that produce learning materials to applications that manage learning objects and metadata. It is also applicable to the publication of a wider range of digital objects. The objectives behind SPI are to develop practical approaches towards interoperability between repositories for learning and applications that produce or consume educational materials. Examples of repositories for learning include educational brokers, knowledge pools, institutional repositories, streaming video servers, etc. Examples of applications that produce these educational materials are query and indexation tools, authoring tools, presentation programs, content packagers, etc. Whilst the development of the SPI specification draws exclusively on examples from the education sector, it is recognised that the underlying requirement to publish content and metadata into repositories crosses multiple application domains. This abstract model has been designed to be implemented using existing specifications such as v1.3 Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) profile [SWORD], Package Exchange Notification Services [PENS] and the publishing specification that was developed in the ProLearn Network of Excellence [PROLEARN SPI]. The intent of this work is thus not to create yet another specification but to create a model that can be bound to existing technologies in order to make sure that these technologies are used in a way that takes into account requirements specific to the learning domain, where it is necessary to publish both content and metadata that references it in a way that preserves these references. The SPI model enumerates the different messages that are interchanged when publishing metadata and content.

EN 16425:2014 is classified under the following ICS (International Classification for Standards) categories: 35.240.30 - IT applications in information, documentation and publishing; 35.240.99 - IT applications in other fields. The ICS classification helps identify the subject area and facilitates finding related standards.

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Standards Content (Sample)


2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.Vmesnik za enostavno objavljanjeSchnittstelle für einfaches PublizierenInterface de publication simpleSimple Publishing Interface35.240.30Uporabniške rešitve IT v informatiki, dokumentiranju in založništvuIT applications in information, documentation and publishingICS:Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z:EN 16425:2014SIST EN 16425:2014en,fr01-oktober-2014SIST EN 16425:2014SLOVENSKI
STANDARD
EUROPEAN STANDARD NORME EUROPÉENNE EUROPÄISCHE NORM
EN 16425
July 2014 ICS 35.240.30; 35.240.99 English Version
Simple Publishing Interface
Interface de publication simple
Schnittstelle für einfaches Publizieren (Simple Publishing Interface - SPI) This European Standard was approved by CEN on 22 May 2014.
CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre:
Avenue Marnix 17,
B-1000 Brussels © 2014 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CEN national Members. Ref. No. EN 16425:2014 ESIST EN 16425:2014

Figure 1 — Example SPI architectures SPI also enables flexible architectures where a middleware component gathers learning resources or metadata through an SPI interface (from authoring tools or harvesters), applies value adding operations on these, and then stores them into a backend repository. Examples of such operations are disaggregation of material into small reusable components, automatic generation of metadata and validation or translation services.
Figure 2 — AloCom architecture Such architecture has been implemented in the context of the AloCom project (Figure 2). [ALOCOM]. This architecture contains a plug-in for MS PowerPoint, a source that can publish to a middle layer application, which is the target of this publishing operation. Next, the AloCom middleware disaggregates the material into small reusable components such as diagrams, individual slides, etc. and automatically generates metadata for each component. Each individual component is then published by the middleware component into a specialised AloCom repository where individual components are available for reuse. The AloCom middleware acts as a source and the AloCom repository as target. Interoperability in both publishing steps is important. First, as several applications (not only MS PowerPoint) require publishing access to the middle layer application, the publishing process from within end-user SIST EN 16425:2014

Figure 3 — The MACE harvesting architecture 3.5 Objectives This publishing protocol meets the following objectives: • SPI enables integrating publishing into authoring environments. This is beneficial for the author workflow, as they do not need to manually upload their learning objects using external publishing applications; • SPI provides interoperability between applications that publish and applications that manage learning objects and metadata. Doing so, the effort of integrating publishing access into an authoring application can be reused on other learning object repositories, provided that they support SPI. 4 SPI Model 4.1 General The model for SPI builds on a separation between data and metadata. The SPI model defines several classes of messages and functional units in a publishing architecture. When binding the specification to a given technology, these concepts are mapped into a concrete specification that can be implemented in a repository and for which conformance can be tested. All messages that are defined by the SPI model contain mandatory (M) and optional (O) elements. Mandatory means that a binding cannot relax this condition. A binding shall implement a mandatory attribute and shall make it mandatory as well. A binding can deal with optional elements in three ways. It can opt not to include the element, it can include the element and make it optional, or it can include the element and make it mandatory. A binding might for instance choose to not support transporting the filename attribute, or an SPI binding can offer support for the filename attribute while still allowing the source to provide a null value for this element. Depending on the choices made when implementing an SPI target, the latter can be configured in different ways and sources shall know the exact configuration of a target in order to be able to use it. As a consequence, the configuration of an SPI target shall be exposed to sources using at least one of the strategies presented in 4.7. As shown by the class diagram of Figure 4, with SPI, a resource shall have an identifier (that can either be generated by a target or a source). In addition, the resource may have a filename associated. Every resource SIST EN 16425:2014

Figure 4 — Resource and metadata instance In this model, a metadata instance shall be connected to a resource. However the resource may be hosted externally. In such a case, ingesting the resource is not part of the publishing scenario. For instance, when applying SPI to a referatory, only the messages described in 4.4 are implemented. Alternatively, resources can be published without
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The article discusses the European Standard EN 16425:2014, which defines the Simple Publishing Interface (SPI). SPI is a protocol for publishing digital content and its associated metadata into repositories while preserving the references between the two. The objective of SPI is to promote interoperability between repositories for learning and applications that create or consume educational materials. Although the examples used in the development of SPI are primarily from the education sector, the need to publish content and metadata applies to various domains. The SPI model can be implemented using existing specifications such as Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD), Package Exchange Notification Services (PENS), and the publishing specification developed in the ProLearn Network of Excellence. The SPI model describes the different messages exchanged during the publication of metadata and content.

本記事は、European Standard EN 16425:2014について述べています。この基準では、Simple Publishing Interface（SPI）という抽象プロトコルが定義されており、デジタルコンテンツとそれに関連するメタデータをリポジトリに出版する際に、それらの間の参照関係を保持する方法が規定されています。このプロトコルは、学習教材を作成するツールから学習オブジェクトおよびメタデータを管理するアプリケーションに対して、学習教材の転送を容易にすることを目的としています。また、より幅広い種類のデジタルオブジェクトのパブリケーションにも適用可能です。 SPIの目的は、学習リポジトリと教育資料を生成または使用するアプリケーションとの相互運用性に対する実用的なアプローチを開発することです。学習リポジトリの例には、教育ブローカー、知識プール、機関リポジトリ、ストリーミングビデオサーバなどがあります。これらの教育資料を生成するアプリケーションの例には、クエリやインデックス作成ツール、著述ツール、プレゼンテーションプログラム、コンテンツパッケージャなどがあります。 SPIの仕様の開発は、主に教育部門の例を使用していますが、コンテンツとそのメタデータをパブリッシュするという要件はさまざまなアプリケーションドメインにわたることが認識されています。 SPIモデルは、Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit（SWORD）プロファイル、Package Exchange Notification Services（PENS）、ProLearn Network of Excellenceで開発されたパブリッシング仕様など、既存の仕様を使用して実装することができます。したがって、この作業の目的は、新しい仕様を作成することではなく、特定の学習ドメインに固有の要件を考慮してこれらの技術が使用される方法を検討するためのモデルを作成することです。 SPIモデルは、メタデータとコンテンツのパブリッシュ時に交換されるさまざまなメッセージを列挙しています。

이 문서는 유럽 표준 EN 16425:2014에 대한 내용을 다루고 있습니다. 이 표준은 간단한 게시 인터페이스(Simple Publishing Interface, SPI)를 명시하는데, 이는 디지털 콘텐츠와 그에 대한 메타데이터를 저장소에 출판하는 방식에 대한 추상 프로토콜입니다. 이 프로토콜은 학습 자료를 생성하는 도구와 학습 객체와 메타데이터를 관리하는 애플리케이션 간의 전송을 용이하게 하기 위해 설계되었습니다. 또한, 보다 넓은 범위의 디지털 객체를 출판하는 데에도 적용될 수 있습니다. SPI의 목표는 학습 및 교육 자료를 생성하거나 사용하는 애플리케이션과 학습 저장소 간의 상호 운용성을 개발하는 실용적인 접근 방법을 개발하는 것입니다. 학습 저장소의 예로는 교육 중개자, 지식 풀, 기관 저장소, 스트리밍 비디오 서버 등이 있으며, 이러한 교육 자료를 생성하는 애플리케이션의 예로는 질의 및 인덱싱 도구, 저자 도구, 프레젠테이션 프로그램, 콘텐츠 패키저 등이 있습니다. SPI 사양의 개발은 주로 교육 부문의 예를 이용하였지만, 콘텐츠와 메타데이터를 출판하면서 참조를 보존하기 위한 특정 요구 사항을 고려해야 하는 학습 도메인에 특화된 기술이 이미 존재하는 것을 인식하고 있습니다. SPI 모델은 v1.3 Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) 프로필, Package Exchange Notification Services (PENS), ProLearn Network of Excellence에서 개발된 게시 사양과 같은 기존 사양을 사용하여 구현될 수 있도록 설계되었습니다. 따라서 이 작업의 의도는 다른 사양을 만들기 위한 것이 아니라 콘텐츠와 관련 메타데이터를 참조하는 방식을 보존하기 위해 기존 기술에 바인딩할 수 있는 모델을 만드는 것입니다. SPI 모델은 메타데이터와 콘텐츠를 출판하는 과정에서 교환되는 다양한 메시지를 열거합니다.