LONDON, October 10 /PRNewswire/ --     The International Press Telecommunications Council and the PLUS Coalition
have welcomed metadata processing guidelines for software developers that
were recently published by the Metadata Working Group.

The Metadata Working Group (http://www.metadataworkinggroup.com) is a
consortium of leading companies in the digital media industry that was formed
in 2006. Adobe, Apple, Canon, Microsoft, Nokia and Sony have joined forces to
produce "Guidelines for Handling Image Metadata." The goal of the group is to
increase interoperability of digital image metadata across all software,
hardware and services.

As creator of the IPTC Information Interchange Model (IIM), IPTC Core and
IPTC Extension image metadata standards, IPTC has a stake in this work. The
IPTC document published this summer, "Persisting Technical Photo Metadata,"
called for the preservation of all metadata between systems, which would
increase workflow productivity and automation.

As creator of the PLUS Standards (Picture Licensing Universal System),
the PLUS Coalition also has a stake in this work. PLUS has established
universal standards for communicating image rights metadata. IPTC is a PLUS
Coalition member and participated in the development of the PLUS standards.

The Metadata Working Group's Guidelines address issues of synchronisation
between different metadata standards that apply to data found in consumer
cameras. IPTC and PLUS note that the general principles outlined in the
Guidelines can be applied to all professional-level metadata.

IPTC Managing Director Michael Steidl said of the initiative, "Image
producers and users are frustrated when metadata disappears between
applications, or appears in a different field. At the IPTC PhotoMetadata
Conference this summer we identified the need for dialogue with developers.
This paper is a huge step forward, and we hope to see further updates which
extend to all professional metadata. In the meantime we urge all developers
to read and act upon the recommendations in the paper."

Jeff Sedlik, President & CEO of the PLUS Coalition, said, "The Metadata
Working Group is addressing issues vital to the communication and
preservation of metadata, which is critical in implementing the IPTC and PLUS
standards. We join IPTC in supporting the adoption of the Guidelines, and
look forward to working closely with the Working Group when they begin to
address professional metadata issues."

The full statement of IPTC and PLUS can be retrieved from
http://www.iptc.org/goto?mwg2008

About the IPTC

The IPTC, based in London, UK, is a consortium of the world's major news
agencies, news publishers and news industry vendors. It develops and
maintains technical standards for improved news exchange that are used by
virtually every major news organization in the world. Information on all IPTC
standards such as the family of G2-Standards, the Photo Metadata standards,
NewsML 1, NITF, SportsML, IIM standards and the NewsCodes together with a
list of existing members and information on how to join is available at
http://www.iptc.org

For more information contact Michael Steidl, office@iptc.org

About the PLUS Coalition

The PLUS Coalition, an international non-profit organization, has
developed the Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS), a comprehensive
system of standards that simplifies and facilitates the communication and
management of image rights. PLUS is a collaboration between major
stakeholders in all industries involved in creating, distributing, using and
preserving images. PLUS supports multi-lingual use, global commerce and the
preservation and exchange of cultural heritage. Learn more about PLUS at
http://www.usePLUS.org

For more information contact Jeff Sedlik, info@usePLUS.org

Media contact:

    Michael Steidl, IPTC Managing director
    Phone: +44(20)3178-4922
    Email: office@iptc.org