Membership Documents
  • Bylaws
  • Charter
  • Join the DDI Alliance
  • Membership Form (PDF)
 Alliance Structure
  • Member Institutions
  • Expert Committee
  • Steering Committee
  • Committee Meeting Minutes
 Publications
  • General Brochure
  • Newsletter
  • Reports
    • Annual Report 2006 (PDF)
    • Annual Report 2005 (PDF)
    • Annual Report 2004 (PDF)
    • Strategic Plan, 2007 and Beyond (PDF)

 Papers, Presentations, and Reports
 Projects Using the DDI
 DDI Users' Listserv
 Getting Started with the DDI
 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
 DDI Logo

 Document Type Definition (DTD)
 XML Schema (XSD)
 DDI Lite (Recommended Elements)
 Version Control for DTD
 Information on DTD Elements (DDI Tag Library)

 Mapping to Other Metadata Standards
  • Dublin Core
  • Recommended Fields (CESSDA) (PDF)
 Related Tools
  • Software/Tools
  • XML/XSLT

DDI Lite (Recommended Elements)

The full DDI specification was designed as a superset of elements providing an extensive coverage of social science data documentation. Many DDI users have expressed the need for a "lighter" version of the specification that would contain a selection of the most relevant and commonly used DDI tags. In response to these requests, the Usability and Outreach Group (UOG) has designed a recommended set of DDI elements that provides a good basic framework for marking up documentation. The DDI Lite version is not a separate specification, but rather a subset of the full DDI model.

To develop DDI Lite, the group examined several other metadata standards and selected elements that appeared to be either common across standards or critical to best practice in the documentation of social science data.

Please address any comments or questions about DDI Lite to ddi-users@icpsr.umich.edu.