Hi linkers
Have been lurking for a while but enjoying the passing traffic.
EdNA (Education Network Australia) as some of you will be aware, is a
cooperative exercise among the sectors of education in Australia. One
aspect of EdNA is the Web site at http://www.edna.edu.au
Much work has been going on in the background but will become more public
in 1997. From late April onwards we will be focussing on encouraging
teachers and others involved in education to use EdNA as an avenue for
sharing information about educational resources available online. A public
launch is planned for around October 1997.
As part of the focus on content gathering over the April to October period,
we will be implementing an EdNA metadata standard (complying as closely as
possible with the Dublin Core standard) to assist with self cataloguing of
proposed resources.
A Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector discussion paper on
metadata is now available online. You can access it via
http://www.edna.edu.au/vetwp and follow the link or go straight to:
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/owa/info.getpage?sp=&pagecode=3830
Background
==========
Development and implementation of an EdNA metadata standard (which is
consistent with emerging international standards) will:
* provide facilities for EdNA users to more readily find the resources of
most use to them.
* assist with the processes of dealing with resources suggested by EdNA
users.
* allow for authorised organisations to enter items directly into the EdNA
database.
* Enable documents in the EdNA database to be searched by other catalogues
(for example to allow education documents entered in EdNA to be searched
by libraries).
Decision making process
=======================
The EdNA metadata standard will need to be one agreed standard across all
sectors. However it is likely to make provision for different cataloguing
schemes (eg keyword lists) for use in different sectors. There may also be
different rules for which metadata fields are mandatory in different sectors.
The EdNA Schools Advisory Group has already made decisions about mandatory
metadata for material submitted to EdNA in the schools sector. The VET
Advisory Group will consider the recommendations in the paper above on 12th
March.
It is proposed that the EdNA metadata standard closely follow the 'Dublin
Core' standard. The fourth international Dublin Core Metadata Workshop will
be held in Canberra on March 3-5th. Details at:
http://www.dstc.edu.au/DC4/
It is hoped that this workshop will finalise many of the outstanding issues
in the Dublin Core standard. A draft Internet standard for discussion is
available at:
ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-kunze-dc-00.txt
A proposed consolidated EdNA basic standard on metadata will be put to the
EdNA Reference Committee on 14th March. This will seek general endorsement
for the format and role of EdNA metadata, much work will remain to be done
after that, particularly on the schemes / keyword lists / cataloguing
systems which will be implemented within the EdNA metadata standard.
Contributions sought
====================
The work to date on EdNA metadata has been done in the schools and VET
sectors, I am keen to hear from interested people in the higher education
sector who are working on metadata or related cataloguing schemes for
Internet based resources. Are there other organisations in Australia
engaged in development of metadata (other than those actively involved in
the Dublin Core work - DSTC, NLA etc), particularly in the context of
introducing a scheme which will have to implemented by a range of
developers of Web pages, across many different organisations?
end =============================================================
Jack Gilding ph: (03)9628-4652
Project Manager, VET EdNA Project fax: (03)9628-2472
Communications & Multimedia Unit [log in to unmask]
OTFE, PO Box 266D Melbourne VIC 3001 http://www.edna.edu.au/vetwp/
(level 4 Rialto Sth Tower 525 Collins Street Melbourne Australia)
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