D-Lib Working Groups

Workshop on Metadata

The Alexandria Digital Library held a workshop on Metadata on November 8, 1995. The workshop was chaired by Michael Goodchild who has prepared the following slides as a report on the workshop.

The current approach

  • Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) content standard for geospatial metadata

    US MARC
    approx 30 fields
    bounding rectangle, date, format, URL, ...

    • Interoperability

  • between catalogs
  • geospatial data catalogs or all catalogs?
  • embed in larger efforts

    • The workshop

  • 30 participants
  • experts in metadata, geospatial metadata, cataloging
  • one intensive day

    • Objectives

  • link geospatial, DL, catalog communities
  • set course for 6 mos, 3 yrs

    • The six questions:

  • Is it possible to devise an approach to metadata that spans all information objects, and is valid for DLI as a whole?
  • Can we devise a clear definition of metadata, its component parts and functions, and its relationship to information granularity, that is robust and theoretically sound? What theoretical frameworks already exist?
  • If necessary, can we identify domains of information and digital library function, and associated approaches o metadata definition?
  • How do the information objects of special interest to Alexandria fit within broader frameworks? Can the progress already made on defining metadata for such objects be made more broadly compatible and interoperable?
  • Does a digital library, with its associated concepts of information granularity and content-based search, require an entirely novel approach to metadata for these objects? Are there elements of such a novel approach that might help bridge the distinctions between classes of information objects?
  • What mechanisms exist for promoting the results of DLI research on metadata within the broader community?

    • Tensions

  • 1 The frameworks to address these issues already exist in the cataloging community
  • Fundamental changes are on the way that will require new approaches
  • 2 For geospatial data, new concepts of information granularity, the blurring of traditional domain boundaries, and the need to deal with new classes of use and users will require novel approaches Numerous niches are being exploited; their survival will be determined
  • 3 Interoperability requires a more structured approach, and a finer level of granularity, than currently exists, in which library, data producer, and data user share a rigorous vocabulary We must devise limited objectives that reflect the inherently fuzzy nature of library search and resource discovery

    • Preliminary conclusions:

    Alexandria will:

  • Continue to support FGDC, MARC, and other efforts
  • Experiment with alternative approaches that link a high degree of structuring (e.g. R-structures, OGIS) with high degrees of abstraction (e.g. TLAs)

    • For further information, please see the initial presentation

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    Last revised: February 5, 1996