SCHEMAS Forum for Metadata Schema Implementers

1
SCHEMASForum for Metadata Schema Implementers

• Interoperability across metadata standards
• SCHEMAS Workshop, The Hague, 30 November 2001
• Makx Dekkers, mail_at_makxdekkers.com

2
The situation

• Many metadata standardisation activities (see
  SCHEMAS Standards Framework Reports)
• Various models being used (from very simple to
  very elaborate)
• Overlap between domains becoming visible
• Implementers are confused

3
Possible futures

• Many insular standards
• Re-inventing the wheels
• Private solutions
• which means expensive implementation
• or
• Increased interoperability
• Aligning of models
• Application Profiles
• which supports the Semantic Web

4
The Semantic Web

• A vision of possibilities
• The Semantic Web is an extension of the current
  web in which information is given well-defined
  meaning, better enabling computers and people to
  work in cooperation.
• -- Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora
  Lassila, The Semantic Web, Scientific American,
  May 2001

5
Semantic Web aspects

• Machines talking to machines semantics need to
  be unambiguously declared
• Federating domains enabling complex tasks based
  on information from various sources
• Wide scope from home to global
• Robust imperfect understanding

This is not going to be easily achieved
6
Semantic Web is based on

• Conventions about declaring and relating
  semantics
• Conventions about infrastructure (e.g.
  registries)
• The Web for connectivity
• A whole lot of machinery to be developed
• Integration of legacy solutions at affordable
  cost

7
Semantic Web issues

• From vision to implementation how can decision
  makers be convinced?
• Leadership everyone is waiting for the Semantic
  Web Activity at W3C to finalise specifications
  and support tools
• Understanding how can we begin to create common
  directions?

8
What is needed?

• Understanding
• Cross-domain co-operation
• Building bridges between communities
• Implementation
• Demonstration of practical implementation of the
  base technologies
• Guidance and best practice

9
Creating understanding

• Need to acknowledge that standards need to
  co-operate in the Semantic Web
• Strategic approaches
• Mapping between standards bottom-up, model
  incompatibilities, loss of information
• Mixing and matching the SCHEMAS approach,
  Application Profiles
• Harmonisation and integration top-down

10
Expressing semantics

• Using the RDF approach to declare semantics and
  relationships modular metadata
• Interoperability between contolled vocabularies
  and ontologies
• Expressing relations between concepts in
  different standards top-level concept list, e.g.
  Basic Semantics Register, Topic Maps

11
What is happening?

• Cross-domain activities
• The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
• Co-operation between standards
• DCMI and IEEE/Learning Object Metadata
• ONIX and EBX
• OASIS and ebXML
• More to come
• OASIS Registries meeting in December bringing
  together XML-based standards

12
SCHEMAS and beyond

Identify and annotate activities Register core
vocabularies and profiles Best-practice and
guidance material Awareness and dissemination

Help develop core profiles Bring together
metadata activities Maintain and enhance registry
13
SCHEMASForum for Metadata Schema Implementers

• Interoperability across metadata standards
• SCHEMAS Workshop, The Hague, 30 November 2001
• Makx Dekkers, mail_at_makxdekkers.com

14
Panel participants

• Tony Hegarty, PwC - business
• Rachel Heery, UKOLN - academic
• Thomas Baker, FHG - digital libraries research
• Michael Day, UKOLN - cultural heritage

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Panel questions

• What is the importance of the Semantic Web vision
  (general, domain, own work)?
• What are the main challenges and opportunities in
  cross-standard co-operation?
• What are the main technical challenges and what
  do we need from the W3C?