Yes, having metadata in a repository certainly makes adjustments, global
changes etc much easier. However it is essential for the metadata
repository to have some mechanism for gathering information about changes
to resources. It is not like a library catalogue or journal citation
database where the resources, once published, do not change.
>From the creator's point of view, it is easiest to record changes in the
embedded metadata at the same time as the resource is changed. The metadata
may in fact be routed to a number of gateway sites with metadata databases
- you could not expect the creator to update the database in each of these
repositories.
On the other hand, it is easy to make errors when you are editing embedded
metadata. This causes problems in gathering the updated metadata for the
metadata repository (or repositories).
There is no clear solution yet.
Prue
Prue Deacon
HealthInsite Editorial Team
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care (Australia)
[log in to unmask]
phone: 61 2 6289 7505
"Dwight Walker" <[log in to unmask]> on 29/10/99 18:29:29
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] (bcc: Prue
Deacon/NHMRC/Health)
Subject: Re: From embedded metadata to repository
I was at the NSW Parliamentary Library today at a talk given by Kath Curr,
the librarian, for ALIA ISS. They are implementing a state-wide intranet to
publish clippings. I asked if they used meta data. They said yes but not
Dublin Core as the system is totally closed off from the general public so
does not need to conform to external standards.
The choice of meta data headings is necessary. You may customise this based
on your circumstances.
Next I know Oracle's new database will extract meta data from multimedia
like CDs directly. You may be able to automate the extraction of meta data
depending on your media - text, PDFs, Word, Excel, audio, video. Once it is
in a proper database or repository you will be laughing. It is much harder
to hand-edit the HTML than use a database and some language like ASP or
Perl
to generate HTML with the meta data codes embedded in it.
I'd go with a repository and use some text manipulation language like Perl
to extract meta data from existing Web pages to insert it in there.
I was reading up some Perl last night. It can suck in the meta data for you
into an SQL database. It is a very powerful text processing language. Why
not get a Web developer to do this for you? Web programming is much less
technical than traditional software development.
> > For example, I am have been told that it would not be difficult to
extract the
> > embedded metadata at a later stage once a repository is available. Any
comments?
----------------------------------------------------
Dwight Walker
WWWalker Web Development Pty. Ltd. (ACN 088 959 086)
PO Box 428, Merrylands, Sydney, 2160, Australia
http://www.wwwalker.com.au, http://www.speakeasy.org/~dwight (US mirror)
tel +61-2-96371649, mob +61-412-405727, fax +61-2-97772058
ICQ No. 4631678, handle: wwwalker (www.icq.com)
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