SCHEMAS Forum for metadata schema implementers

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SCHEMASForum for metadata schema implementers

• The SCHEMAS project and metadata
• ETB Workshop, London, 9-10 January 2001
• Michael Day, m.day_at_ukoln.ac.uk

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Contents

• Project overview
• Audience, needs, SCHEMAS project offerings, some
  results to date
• The SCHEMAS metadata registry
• Objectives, approaches, implementation and
  functions
• Application profiles
• Some definitions

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Partners

• PricewaterhouseCoopers Technology Consultants
  (PwC)
• German National Research Centre for Information
  Technology (GMD)
• UK Office for Library and Information Networking,
  University of Bath (UKOLN)

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Audience

• Who?
• Metadata schema designers
• Projects under the EUs IST programme (Multimedia
  Content and Tools) and national initiatives
• What for?
• Information, guidance and tools for the
  description of Web resources of all kinds
• Helping designers to use what is already there

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Domains

• Education
• Research
• Academic services
• Geospatial information
• Other (e.g. Government)

• Industry
• Publishing and rights management
• Audio-visual production and distribution
• Cultural heritage

• Not just Dublin Core
• No best way of doing things

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Needs

• General need for
• Standard methods for content description
• Multiplicity of schemas, mixing and matching
  general and specific sets
• But
• There is some duplication of effort, competition
  between standards and schemas
• Potential confusion for implementers

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Re-use

• Why re-use existing schemas?
• Not re-inventing wheels
• Potential use of standard tools
• Higher potential interoperability
• End result
• Reduction of cost, now and in the future
• Enlarging the potential audience
• Interoperability

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The information gap

• Metadata schemas already identified
• Over 200 implementation activities
• Around 90 standardisation activities
• Very different levels of information
• Conclusions
• Good information about schemas is badly needed
• Need for mutual understanding, hopefully leading
  to harmonisation

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SCHEMAS provides ...

• Information provision
• Metadata Watch Reports
• Standards Framework Reports
• Guidance material
• Workshops
• Registry implementation
• Schemas, application profiles, people, projects,
  standards, tools, guidelines

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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.sc
  hemas-forum.org/metadata-watch/
• Standards Framework Report 1 (Sept. 2000)
• http//www.schemas-forum.org/stds-framework/
• Second Workshop (Bonn, November 2000)

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SCHEMAS Registry

• Experience with prototype registry developed by
  DESIRE II project
• The registry is the place to publish metadata
  schemas
• namespace schemas
• application profile schemas
• As well as other information about schemas, e.g.
• standards, projects, people, tools, etc.

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Thick registry
Namespace schema
App profile
Mapping
Thick Registry
Usage guide
Sample data
Users
Software tools
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Thin registry
Namespace schema
App profile
Mapping
Sample data
Usage guide
Thin Registry
Software tools
Users
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Registry approach

• 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
• The technical basis will be
• RDF Schemas
• EOR toolkit

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EOR Toolkit
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Registry functions

• Registration
• schemas from European projects and initiatives
• information and reviews from SCHEMAS domain
  correspondents
• Searching
• Finding application profiles for re-use
• Finding information and guidance

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Application profiles

• What is an application profile?
• a schema identifying the use of elements from one
  or more namespaces in a particular application,
  with additional constraints
• What is it used for?
• To publish this information for a human audience
• To help software configure

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Profile process

• 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

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Contacts

• Makx Dekkers
• mdekkers_at_lu.pwcglobal.com
• Rachel Heery
• r.heery_at_ukoln.ac.uk
• Tom Baker
• thomas.baker_at_gmd.de
• Web site
• http//www.schemas-forum.org/

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Acknowledgements

• Based on a presentation given by Makx Dekkers
  (PricewaterhouseCoopers) at the MALVINE and LEAF
  conference Gateways to Europes Cultural
  Heritage, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, 4-5
  December 2000.
• http//www.sbb.spk-berlin.de/malvine/agenda/schema
  s.html