This illustration and the instructions pertain to a file titled apex.rdf which is downloaded onto your local computer and available for ALL APEX members. The same procedure applied to an APEX file labeled awardprogrammemberships.rdf which is for organizations who are members of APEX and support award programs. After the steps which follow, your web site will be labeled. As being an APEX trusted Internet resource and a member of APEX. Your APEX badge with ID shows your are a member to humans. The apex.rdf file enables machines to also verify that you are a trusted Internet resource and a member of APEX.

You are probably familiar with the ICRA labels.rdf. That file is created by yourself when you answer questions. About the content of your Internet presence. APEX has done the work for you. Everything about your commitment to ethics, copyright, privacy and treatment of others is contained in the file.

The second step is to save the file labeled apex.rdf (ALL APEX members) or awardprogrammemberships.rdf (organizations) on your desktop.

Yes you can save the file anywhere. Just remember the file name and where you saved it.

Saving to your desktop may be easier to remember?

But you are not quite finished. The file has to be unzipped, which is step 3.

Step three will be to unzip the file you have downloaded onto your desktop.

Depending upon your personal work habits. A double click may be the best procedure.

Extracting the files and then viewing.

Both the zipped file and the extracted file will then be on your desktop.

You can then move the extracted file which is either the apex.rdf or awardprogrammemberships.rdf into the folder where you have web pages. Which are published to the internet. Using your FTP.

Later you can removed the zipped file or files from your desktop. After verifying the unzipped file has been correctly moved.

Step four is to insert a line of HTML code into the web page where you have listed memberships. If you do not have a memberships section, then your main or index page will be sufficient.

‹link rel=“meta” href=“Substitute your URI here/RDF/apex.rdf” type=“application/rdf+xml” title=“APEX RDF Metadata Schema” /›

The code above looks for the apex.rdf in a folder RDF. If you placed your RDF in the root directory, not in a folder. Simply remove the RDF.

You can view what is in the RDF file by copying the complete URI into your browser bar window at the very top.

All of us have limited time and resources. To work on our web pages on the Internet. The APEX metadata schema is completely voluntary. APEX had done most of the work for you, a valued member. So what are the benefits for your work. Hopefully not hard. But if you need help, go to your APEX forum, please. Or send an email to a member of your APEX Board of Directors.

The first benefit is like suspenders and a belt. Double safety. Your APEX badge with ID and the apex.rdf technically work together. Identifying you as someone who practices ethics and the principles of APEX.

Secondly you will derive no immediate benefit. Nor will APEX. Working together toward a semantic web requires a partnership. It will take time.

Thirdly as more APEX members implement the APEX metadata schema, we serve as good examples, of how a community can hopefully future proof our presence on the Internet.

Fourthly we build critical mass. The more people do something which is beneficial to everyone. No matter what their ability or disABILITY. More web authors are apt to do the same.