Dublin Core

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on creating a table that shows how selected Dublin Core metadata elements map to the available metadata fields in Sakai. I've put a copy of this up on my Wetpaint wiki, for reference.

For researchers such as myself, one issue with metadata is that it is relatively simple to deal with when you are talking about a handful of resources, but the process becomes radically more complex when resources start to number in the hundreds. Equally, the ability to auto-detect metadata has to rate high on any librarian's or archivist's wish-list for an information system design. So, what does Sakai have to offer?

At the end of any project, the time comes to wrap up work and, hopefully, to prepare project outputs for dissemination and archiving. We’re working with the folks from CTREP to create the digital archive for the Learning Landscape Project. It’s an interesting process – while working to pull together the materials for inclusion, I’m also thinking about what we learned on the way, mentally summing up the project’s achievements, as well as the things we could have done better. I’ve reflected that this process of archiving is, in many ways, the process of creating the institutional representation of our project: its official history. I’m not suggesting this is the “best” story, or the “only” story, to tell about our work – there are, of course, many stories to tell. But this collection will constitute (we hope!) some of the most accessible documentation of our work, so we want it to be diverse in content, and we want it to be as thorough -- as rich -- as possible.

I'm just back from today’s CETIS Metadata and Repositories SIG Meeting at Birkbeck, and wanted to post some notes while they’re fresh. Notes and comments arising from the crazily brave, “live-and-uncensored” demo sessions will get posted separately: for the curious, these included ORE; Becta Vocabulary Management System (VMS); ENTAG; FeedForward; and SOURCE.