SCHEMAS Forum for metadata schema implementers The SCHEMAS

SCHEMAS Forum for metadata schema implementers The SCHEMAS project and metadata ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001 Michael Day, m. day@ukoln. ac. uk Pw. C

Contents l Project overview – Audience, needs, SCHEMAS project offerings, some results to date l The SCHEMAS metadata registry – Objectives, approaches, implementation and functions l Application profiles – Some definitions ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Partners l l l Pricewaterhouse. Coopers Technology Consultants (Pw. C) German National Research Centre for Information Technology (GMD) UK Office for Library and Information Networking, University of Bath (UKOLN) ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Audience l Who? – Metadata schema designers – Projects under the EU’s IST programme (Multimedia Content and Tools) and national initiatives l What for? – Information, guidance and tools for the description of Web resources of all kinds – Helping designers to use what is already there ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Domains l l Industry Publishing and rights management Audio-visual production and distribution Cultural heritage l Education l Research l Academic services l Geospatial information l Other (e. g. Government) l Not just Dublin Core l No ‘best way’ of doing things ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Needs l General need for: – Standard methods for content description – Multiplicity of schemas, mixing and matching general and specific sets l But: – There is some duplication of effort, competition between standards and schemas – Potential confusion for implementers ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Re-use l Why re-use existing schemas? – Not re-inventing wheels – Potential use of standard tools – Higher potential interoperability l End result: – Reduction of cost, now and in the future – Enlarging the potential audience – Interoperability ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

The information gap l Metadata schemas already identified: – Over 200 implementation activities – Around 90 standardisation activities – Very different levels of information l Conclusions: – Good information about schemas is badly needed – Need for mutual understanding, hopefully leading to harmonisation ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

SCHEMAS provides. . . l Information provision – Metadata Watch Reports – Standards Framework Reports – Guidance material l Workshops l Registry implementation – Schemas, application profiles, people, projects, standards, tools, guidelines ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

SCHEMAS results First Workshop (Bath, June 2000) - report http: //www. schemas-forum. org/workshops/ Metadata Watch Reports: #1 (July 2000), #2 (September 2000), #3 (November 2000) http: //www. schemas-forum. org/metadata-watch/ Standards Framework Report: #1 (Sept. 2000) http: //www. schemas-forum. org/stds-framework/ Second Workshop (Bonn, November 2000) ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

SCHEMAS Registry l l Experience with prototype registry developed by DESIRE II project The registry is the place to publish metadata schemas: – ‘namespace schemas’ – ‘application profile schemas’ l As well as other information about schemas, e. g. : – standards, projects, people, tools, etc. ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Thick registry Mapping Usage guide Namespace schema Thick Registry App profile Sample data Users Software tools ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Thin registry Mapping Usage guide Software tools Namespace schema App profile Sample data Thin Registry Users ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Registry approach l The SCHEMAS registry will be: – a ‘thick registry’ initially, with schemas registered at a central location – develop into a ‘thin registry’ in the future, with pointers to schemas on the Web l The technical basis will be: – RDF Schemas – EOR toolkit ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

EOR Toolkit ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Registry functions l Registration – schemas from European projects and initiatives – information and reviews from SCHEMAS domain correspondents l Searching – Finding application profiles for re-use – Finding information and guidance ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Application profiles l What is an application profile? – a schema identifying the use of elements from one or more namespaces in a particular application, with additional constraints l What is it used for? – To publish this information for a human audience – To help software configure ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Profile process l Common steps in defining profile – identify requirements for descriptive elements – find appropriate standard – link required elements to standard elements where possible – define remaining elements and/or qualifiers in private namespace – link remaining elements ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Contacts Makx Dekkers mdekkers@lu. pwcglobal. com Rachel Heery r. heery@ukoln. ac. uk Tom Baker thomas. baker@gmd. de Web site: http: //www. schemas-forum. org/ ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001

Pw. C

Acknowledgements Based on a presentation given by Makx Dekkers (Pricewaterhouse. Coopers) at the MALVINE and LEAF conference: Gateways to Europe’s Cultural Heritage, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, 4 -5 December 2000. http: //www. sbb. spk-berlin. de/malvine/agenda/schemas. html ETB Workshop, London, 9 -10 January 2001