Infobits (XEP-0120) [1] defines a protocol for capturing granular information (or "infobits") about users, servers, services, rooms, nodes, commands, files, and other phenomena on the Jabber/XMPP network; however, that document defines the protocol only, not the infobits themselves. This document specifies how to encapsulate one sort of metadata in infobits: the metadata elements about entities defined by RFC 2426 [2] (supplemented by vCard-like metadata that is not defined in RFC 2426), thus enabling the Jabber community to supersede vcard-temp (XEP-0054) [3]. Note well that this document is decidedly not meant to provide an exhaustive catalog of possible infobits. Future registrations, whether in XMPP Extension Protocol specifications or direct submissions to the XMPP Registrar [4], will specify additional infobits.
In order to supersede the vCard-XML protocol currently in use within the Jabber community, it is necessary to define infobits that correspond to the data elements defined by the vCard-XML DTD (more precisely, the vCard Profile Features specified in section 3 of RFC 2426). These are shown in the following table. (Note: this mapping uses the vCard entity names specified in draft-dawson-vcard-xml-dtd-03 [5], not those specified in XEP-0054.)
| Infobit Key | vCard Element | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| birthdate | bday (partial) | Date of birth (DD); prepend with birthyear and birthmonth (with "-" separators) to create vCard bday content |
| birthmonth | bday (partial) | Month of birth (MM); prepend with birthyear and append with birthdate (with "-" separators) to create vCard bday content |
| birthyear | bday (partial) | Year of birth (YYYY); append with birthmonth and birthdate (with "-" separators) to create vCard bday content; the vCard "bday" element is separated into three infobits so that users can abstain from providing a birthyear |
| cellphone | tel + cell | A cellphone (mobile phone) number; if more than one cellphone number is specified, this infobit keyname should be appended with one of the following modifiers: home, work |
| city | city | If more than one address is specified (e.g., work and home), this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., city.home) |
| country | country | If more than one address is specified (e.g., work and home), this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., country.home) |
| If more than one email address is specified, this infobit name should be appended with one of the following address modifiers: home, work | ||
| extadd | extadd | Extended address; if more than one address is specified (e.g., work and home), this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., extadd.home) |
| family | family | A family name or surname; in some cultures, known as a "last name" |
| fax | tel + fax | A fax number; if more than one fax number is specified, this infobit keyname should be appended with one of the following modifiers: home, work |
| fn | fn | A full name |
| given | given | A given name; in some cultures, known as a "first name" |
| key | key | This SHOULD be a URL to or identifier for a public key, but MAY be the key information itself |
| lat | lat | Latitude in decimal degrees North |
| logo | logo | This MUST be a URL to a logo; recipients should be prepared to parse the URL in order to retrieve and then decode the binary information |
| lon | lon | Longitude in decimal degrees East |
| middle | middle | A person's middle name or initial |
| nickname | nickname | A person's preferred nickname or less formal name |
| orgnam | orgnam | A name for an organization |
| orgunit | orgunit | A name for an organizational unit |
| pager | tel + pager | A pager number; if more than one pager number is specified, this infobit keyname should be appended with one of the following modifiers: home, work |
| pcode | pcode | A postal code; if more than one address is specified (e.g., work and home), this infobit name may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel |
| phone | tel + voice | A voice phone number; if more than one voice phone number is specified, this infobit keyname should be appended with one of the following modifiers: home, work |
| photo | photo + extval | This MUST be a URL to a photo; recipients should be prepared to parse the URL in order to retrieve and then decode the binary information |
| prefix | prefix | A prefix to a name (e.g., "Dr.") |
| region | region | If more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., region.home) |
| role | role | A person's role within an organization |
| sound | sound + extval | This MUST be a URL to a sound file; recipients should be prepared to parse the URL in order to retrieve and then decode the binary information |
| street | street | Street number and name; if more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., street.home) |
| suffix | suffix | A suffix to a name (e.g., "Esq.") |
| title | title | This is a job title, and is not to be confused with the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) [6] "title" metadata term |
| vmail | tel + msg | A voicemail (message) number; if more than one voicemail number is specified, this infobit keyname should be appended with one of the following modifiers: home, work |
| website | url | URL for any website |
The vCard specification does not include the following infobits because either (1) it is not that granular or (2) they represent entities or properties that did not exist when the vCard format was defined.
| Infobit | Comments |
|---|---|
| alt | Altitude in meters above sea level |
| area | An area within a locality; if more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., area.home) |
| building | The name of a specific building; if more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., building.home) |
| expertise | A self-defined area of expertise (no guarantees provided) |
| floor | The floor of a building; if more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., floor.home) |
| gender | The self-defined gender of a user (this is not limited to "male" and "female", although those are the expected values in most instances) |
| interest | A self-defined area of interest |
| jid | An entity's Jabber Identifier |
| orgurl | URL for organization's website |
| room | A specific room; if more than one address is specified, this infobit keyname may be appended with any of the following address modifiers: home, work, postal, parcel (e.g., room.home) |
| weblog | URL for weblog |
This document introduces no security considerations above and beyond those already defined in XEP-0120.
This document requires no interaction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) [7].
The following is a submission to the infobits registry called for by XEP-0120.
To follow.
To follow.
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Discussion on other xmpp.org discussion lists might also be appropriate; see <http://xmpp.org/about/discuss.shtml> for a complete list.
Errata can be sent to <editor@xmpp.org>.
The following requirements keywords as used in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119: "MUST", "SHALL", "REQUIRED"; "MUST NOT", "SHALL NOT"; "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED"; "SHOULD NOT", "NOT RECOMMENDED"; "MAY", "OPTIONAL".
1. XEP-0120: Infobits <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0120.html>.
2. RFC 2426: vCard MIME Directory Profile <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2426>.
3. XEP-0054: vcard-temp <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0054.html>.
4. The XMPP Registrar maintains a list of reserved protocol namespaces as well as registries of parameters used in the context of XMPP extension protocols approved by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <https://xmpp.org/registrar/>.
5. draft-dawson-vcard-xml-dtd-03 <http://www.watersprings.org/pub/id/draft-dawson-vcard-xml-dtd-03.txt>. Work in progress.
6. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an organization dedicated to promoting the widespread adoption of interoperable metadata standards. For further information, see <http://www.dublincore.org/>.
7. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the central coordinator for the assignment of unique parameter values for Internet protocols, such as port numbers and URI schemes. For further information, see <http://www.iana.org/>.
Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at http://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/
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