The report on the second metadata workshop organised by the
European Commission DGXIII/E-4 in Luxembourg on 26 June 1998
is now available.
The URL is: http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata2.html
The executive summary is attached below.
Kind regards, Makx.
__________________________________________________________________
Makx Dekkers e-mail: [log in to unmask]
PricewaterhouseCoopers GSM: +352 021 29 72 29
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European Commission - DGXIII/E-4 Electronic Publishing & Libraries
TechServ : The Libraries Support Team tel: +352 4011 62338
PO Box 1078 : L-1010 Luxembourg fax: +352 4011 62330
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Executive summary
On 26 June 1998, the second workshop of a series on the subject of
metadata organised by the European Commission DGXIII/E4 took place
in Luxembourg.
32 participants attended the workshop. Many organisations in
Europe involved in the implementation of metadata for electronic
resources were represented, as were several European Commission
services.
The workshop contained one session on technical and implementation
issues and one session on strategic and standardisation issues
reflecting the specific objectives of the workshop.
The first specific objective was to give a number of projects the
opportunity to present results in the area of metadata from
various perspectives. In the morning session, the issues that were
covered in the presentations were:
+ metadata creation tools (Anna Brümmer, Univ. of Lund, Sweden)
+ definition of local extensions to Dublin Core for specific
application areas (Erik Duval, Univ. of Leuven, Belgium)
+ the use of controlled vocabulary (Paul Miller, ADS, UK)
+ multilingual metadata (Matthew Stiff, MDA, UK)
The presenters of these subjects conducted a panel discussion on
these issues and others raised by the audience.
The second specific objective was to discuss metadata in a broader
context with project participants and experts involved in
definition and standardisation of metadata elements. In the
afternoon session, presentations covered:
+ metadata activities in context (Ian Campbell-Grant, ICL, UK,
chairman of the CEN/ISSS Workshop on Metadata for Multimedia
Information)
+ future developments in Dublin Core (Stuart Weibel, OCLC, USA)
In a plenary discussion, the participants discussed strategic
issues concerning the definition and standardisation of metadata
element sets.
The major conclusions of the workshop can be summarised as
follows:
+ the strategic discussions highlighted that establishing widely
accepted agreements is essential for the success of metadata;
+ it is necessary that consensus on agreements for metadata is
achieved across domains (e.g. libraries, museums, education,
business, etc.);
+ agreements and standards need to be maintained over time in a
clear and open way with participation of all interested parties
(especially user communities) to guarantee stability over time;
+ formal and informal bodies involved in the standardisation of
metadata sets (Dublin Core community, CEN, ISO) need to find
effective ways of co-operation to ensure maximum acceptance of
agreements and to avoid overlapping activities;
+ further metadata workshops organised by the European Commission
are considered to be valuable platforms for co-ordination and
exchange of experience.
For further information, including PowerPoint presentations, see
the Workshop's Web site at:
http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata2.html
For more information on the Libraries sector of the Telematics
Application Programme, see:
http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/libraries.html
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