Hi all!

I just wanted to share with you the fact that I'm defending my PhD
thesis on metadata interoperability this Wednesday. The thesis
summarizes my work on metadata standards over the last 10 years, and
might be interesting for some of you Dublin Core folks.

The event will be webcast if any of you happen to be interested :-)

/Mikael

==============

On 2010-12-15, between 13-17 CET, Mikael Nilsson will defend his PhD
thesis in Media Technology at KTH in Stockholm. 

Opponent: 
• Prof. Stuart Sutton, Information School, University of Washington, US

Examination Committee: 
• Prof. Jan Pawlowski, Dept, of Computer Science and Information
Systems, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. 
• Dr. Nikos Manouselis, Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET),
Athens, Greece. 
• Prof. Stefan Arnborg, Dept. of Computer Science and Communication,
KTH 

The title of the thesis is: 
From Interoperability to Harmonization in Metadata Standardization -
Designing an Evolvable Framework for Metadata Harmonization

The thesis can be downloaded in pdf format from: 
http://kmr.nada.kth.se/papers/SemanticWeb/FromInteropToHarm-MikaelsThesis.pdf

The abstract of the thesis can be found below.

The dissertation is open to the public and will be broadcast via
Bambuser at:
http://bambuser.com/channel/m94mni

More information about the dissertation can be found at Mikael's
Facebook group on the event: 
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159140464117610

You are most welcome to attend, either face-to-face or electronically
mediated.

P.S: Please forward this message to anyone that you think might be
interested.

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS: 

Metadata is an increasingly central tool in the current web environment,
enabling large-scale, distributed management of resources. Recent years
has seen a growth in interaction between previously relatively isolated
metadata communities, driven by a need for cross-domain collaboration
and exchange.  However, metadata standards have not been able to meet
the needs of interoperability between independent standardization
communities. For this reason the notion of metadata harmonization,
defined as interoperability of combinations of metadata specifications,
has risen as a core issue for the future of web-based metadata.

This thesis presents a solution-oriented analysis of current  issues in
metadata harmonization.  A set of widely used metadata specifications in
the domains of learning technology, libraries and the general web
environment have been chosen as targets for the analysis, with a special
focus on Dublin Core, IEEE LOM and RDF. Through active participation in
several metadata standardization communities, a body of knowledge of
harmonization issues has been developed.

The thesis presents an analytical framework of concepts and principles
for understanding the issues arising when interfacing multiple
standardization communities. The analytical framework focuses on a set
of important patterns in metadata specifications and their respective
contribution to harmonization issues:

• Metadata syntaxes as a tool  for metadata exchange. Syntaxes are shown
to be of secondary importance in harmonization.

• Metadata semantics as a cornerstone for interoperability.  This thesis
argues that the incongruences in the interpretation of metadata
descriptions play a significant role in harmonization.

• Abstract models for metadata as a tool for designing metadata
standards. It is shown how such models are pivotal in the understanding
of harmonization problems.

• Vocabularies as carriers of meaning in metadata. The thesis shows how
portable vocabularies can carry semantics from one standard to another,
enabling harmonization.

• Application profiles as a method for combining metadata standards.
While application profiles have been  put forward as a powerful tool for
interoperability, the thesis concludes that they have only a marginal
role to play in harmonization. 

The analytical framework is used to analyze and compare seven metadata
specifications, and a concrete set of harmonization issues is presented.
These issues are used as a basis for a metadata harmonization framework
where a multitude of metadata specifications with different
characteristics can coexist. The thesis concludes that the Resource
Description Framework (RDF) is the only existing specification that has
the right characteristics to serve as a practical basis for such a
harmonization framework, and therefore must be taken into account when
designing metadata specifications. Based on the harmonization framework,
a best practice for metadata standardization development is developed,
and a roadmap for harmonization improvements of the analyzed standards
is presented.