To help iTunes Store users browse content of interest to them within your site, you can assign your site’s content to predefined iTunes U categories. Sites approved for inclusion in the iTunes U area in the iTunes Store can categorize content by subject, thus providing users a subject-based navigation method for discovering content.
If you have requested that Apple consider your institution’s iTunes U site for inclusion in the iTunes U area in the iTunes Store and your status is in the Preapproved state, you can begin assigning categories to your content. To categorize content:
Use the Categorize Tracks webpage (simple groups). For more information, see the steps below.
Specify the categorization data in your RSS feed (feed groups) or Atom feed (feed courses). For more information, see the steps below.
Provide the categorization data in the the AddTrack and MergeTrack iTunes U Web Services operations (simple groups). For more information, see “AddTrack” and “MergeTrack.”
Users can select a category from the iTunes U pop-up menu in the iTunes 9 or later navigation bar or from the Categories box in iTunes 8 or earlier and, if your site is included within iTunes U in the iTunes Store and you categorized content, your content is included in the category pages. If you are logged in to your institution’s site when you select a category, iTunes U redirects you to the category page. To display your institution’s page again, click the Back button at the top of the iTunes Store window.
Notes:
For smart groups, because iTunes U populates the group by performing a search of your site for all tracks that match the criteria you specify, and the actual tracks in a smart group exist in another group within your site, you must find the location of the actual tracks and categorize the tracks within those groups.
For feed courses and feed groups, because iTunes U populates track content automatically based on the feed URL and details you specify, you must categorize tracks within a feed course or feed group by providing the appropriate values within the feed itself. To view feed course or feed group tracks and their assigned categories, click View in the Category Summary webpage to display the View Categorization webpage.
While multiple categories can apply to your content, select the most relevant category. If the content of your track does not match any of the categories, you should not select a category.
To categorize your site’s content using the Categorize Tracks webpage:
Log in to iTunes U as the site administrator or another user with edit access.
Navigate to the Course page where you want to categorize content.
Click Categorize Tracks in the Tools area.
iTunes U displays the Category Summary webpage in your default web browser so you can view total tracks within a group, total categorized tracks within a group, and select the Course page groups where you want to categorize tracks. The Category Summary webpage displays a hierarchical structure of your site, beginning with the currently selected page. You can categorize content starting from any iTunes U Welcome page, Public Feature page, or Course page.
Click Refresh Page to update the page with any content changes made using the Categorize Tracks webpage, feeds, or iTunes U Web Services.
Click Categorize for the group whose tracks you want to categorize.
iTunes U displays the Categorize Tracks webpage in your default web browser so you can select tracks and categorize your iTunes U content.
Select the checkbox for the file or files you want to categorize, select a category from the Category pop-up menu, and then click Save. You can also select a subcategory from the Optional Subcategory pop-up menu, and then click Save.
To assign a category to all tracks, use the Shift-click technique or click Select All Checkboxes to select all tracks and then select the Category from the pop-up menu and click Save.
To remove a category, select the checkbox for the file, select Remove Category from the Category pop-up menu, and then click Save.
To assign an initial category to all new tracks added to the group, select a category from the Initial Category pop-up menu in the “Assign Initial Category for New Content” section, and then click Save. You can remove the initial category at any time by selecting Remove Initial Category from the pop-up menu and clicking Save. Removing an initial category does not affect any tracks already assigned a category within the group. If you move a track into a group with an initial category setting, the track only inherits the initial category if it is uncategorized. If the track was previously categorized, iTunes U does not change the existing category association.
Return to iTunes U when you are finished.
Click Logout.
To categorize your site’s content by providing categorization data in your feed:
To specify category data for each track within a feed, iTunes U extended RSS and Atom feed support by defining a namespace for feeds, including:
A namespace URI of <http://www.itunesu.com/feed>
A namespace prefix of <itunesu>
To convey generic RSS 2.0 data, Atom data, iTunes Store data, and iTunes U data:
Specify the opening tag of the root <rss> element of an RSS feed document as follows:
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:itunesu="http://www.itunesu.com/feed" version="2.0"> |
Specify the opening tag of the root <feed> element of an Atom feed document as follows:
<feed xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:pcp="http://www.apple.com/dtds/pcp-1.0.dtd" xml:lang="English"> |
For example, to convey the category called “Economics” for the associated track, include the following element within an <item> element:
<itunesu:category itunesu:code="100100" /> |
Notes:
If iTunes U discovers more than one instance of the <itunesu:category> element in an <item> element, iTunes U only uses the first instance to categorize the track.
If iTunes U does not find an instance of <itunesu:category>, or the first instance is invalid, iTunes U assumes that there is no category data for the track and removes any previously cached category data for the track. An <itunesu:category> element is considered invalid if it does not contain an <itunesu:code> attribute or it contains a category code that does not map to a predefined iTunes U category. For a list of categories and codes, see “Category Codes.”
© 2009 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2009-11-04)