[Apologies for cross-posting.]

The Electronic Publishing Specialist Group
of the British Computer Society (BCS-EPSG)
presents

"Applications of Metadata"
==========================

a one-day conference
Wednesday 29 May 2002
10.00 am to 5.00 pm
at the Ismaili Centre, London
_____________________________________________________

Latest details & booking form:
http://www.epsg.org.uk/meetings/metadata2002/

_____________________________________________________

Metadata -- that is, data about data -- is not exactly new.
Generations of librarians have used metadata to catalogue
collections of non-electronic materials. It is thanks to the
existence of such catalogues that any of us can find a book
in our local public library in a matter of minutes rather
than days, and with a minimum of foreknowledge or expertise.

Now, as digital data becomes available in more and more
application areas, it becomes correspondingly more important
to be able to describe, search for and identify digital
assets in an effective and efficient way -- and in a way
which machines can organize and process. Metadata is a key
aspect of this.

However, just stating that metadata can be used for effective
searching is only the beginning of the process. For several
years, people in many fields have been working on how to
structure and develop metadata so that it achieves what is
required; and the same conclusions have not necessarily been
reached in every field.

The aims of this meeting are twofold. The first aim is to
broaden the awareness of metadata and the use of metadata in
the fields that will be covered, while the second aim is to
encourage some forms of cross-fertilization of ideas, so that
workers in one field discover more about how metadata is being
used elsewhere.

After a general introduction on metadata, there will be
speakers from a range of areas, who will explain how metadata
is being used in their particular area. It is hoped that the
areas will include academic publishing, government, cultural
digital collections, IPR, protecting children on the Internet,
the newspaper industry and publishing production workflows,
the last from Adobe Systems whose XMP (eXtensible Metadata
Platform) is being introduced as a feature of a number of
popular publishing programs.

The meeting will be chaired by Berin Gowan of TSO Advisory
Services,
formerly Abbey Information Systems.


SPEAKERS
========

Nick Dempsey of EPS Ltd
    will give an overview of metadata principles, methods
    and current standards.

Steve Hitchcock of the University of Southampton
     (or an alternate speaker) will describe the Open Archive
     Initiative's OAI metadata harvesting protocol.

Geeti Granger of John Wiley & Sons Ltd
     will speak about the use of DOI (Digital Object Identifiers) and
     metadata at Wiley.

Roberto Minio of KnowledgeView
    will address the topic of metadata applications
    in the news industry.

Chris Barlas of Rightscom Ltd
    will talk about metadata and Intellectual Property Rights
    (IPR) management.

Joe Combs of Adobe Systems
    will explain how Adobe's "eXtensible Metadata Platform"
    (XMP) system will allow metadata to be embedded into,
    transported along with and retrieved from files from
    Adobe products such as InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Phil Archer, Chief Technical Officer of the Internet Content Rating
Association,
    will discuss metadata for Internet content rating.

Pete Johnston of UKOLN
    will give an overview of collections level metadata.


VENUE, FEES
===========

The meeting will take place at the Ismaili Centre in
South Kensington, London.  The Centre is opposite the
Victoria and Albert Museum and close to the tube station:
a map and travel information is available from the web site.

The fee will be £65 + VAT for Group members, £130 + VAT
for non-members  and £35 + VAT for bona fide students.
This includes lunch and refreshments.  It is possible
to join the group and pay the member rate when booking for
the meeting (& cheaper than paying the non-member rate).

Full details, terms and conditions, and a booking form are
at the Web site:
            http://www.epsg.org.uk/meetings/metadata2002/




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Mrs. Ann Apps. Senior Analyst - Research & Development, MIMAS,
     University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6039    Fax: +44 (0) 0161 275 6040
Email: [log in to unmask]  WWW: http://epub.mimas.ac.uk/ann.html
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