1. UKOLN and the Interoperability Focus Paul Miller Interoperability Focus P.Miller@ukoln.ac.uk http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop–focus/

2. 23 April 1999 2 Synopsis UKOLN –the United Kingdom Office for Library & Information Networking Setting the Scene –problems, potentials, and a glance over the horizon Building Solutions –Interoperability Focus Close–up on one solution –The Dublin Core

3. 23 April 1999 3 UKOLN The UK Office for Library & Information Networking –funded by Library & Information Commission (LIC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils –receives additional project–based funding from the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), the European Commission and others –advocates UK interests in a wide range of contexts, and involved at the local level in New Library, NGfL, UfI, etc.

4. 23 April 1999 4 UKOLN Staff interests include; –distributed library issues –cataloguing –public libraries –standardisation –the World Wide Web –UK Web Focus –convergence between libraries and related information sources –electronic publication –Ariadne –Exploit Interactive –‘metadata’.

5. 23 April 1999 5 UKOLN For more information on UKOLN, visit http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

6. 23 April 1999 6 Defining some problems Resource description communities the Web explosion the emancipation of resource But why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

7. 23 April 1999 7 Resource Description Communities A resource description community is characterized by agreement on common semantic, structural, and syntactic conventions for exchange of resource description information. Libraries MARCAACR2 But what if I want to search across more than one community?

8. 23 April 1999 8 A little language... Semantics Structure Syntax “Let’s talk English” Standardisation of content Standardisation of form “Here’s how to make a sentence” Standardisation of expression “These are the rules of grammar” “cat milk sat drank mat ” “Cat sat on mat. Drank milk.” “The cat sat on the mat. It drank some milk.”

9. 23 April 1999 9 The Web Explosion Two million web sites Half a billion addressable pages High consumer expectations, versus primitive tools and infrastructure Uncertainty over quality, trust and integrity. But why can’t I find what I want?

10. 23 April 1999 10 Emancipation of resource Corporate data are being released Museum catalogues are going online Library OPACs are available over the Web A wealth of surrogates are becoming available to all Governments are unlocking doors. But Alta Vista only sees a query screen...

11. 23 April 1999 11 But I don’t want just a library book, or a web page, or a museum object. I want information about Hull, or the World Cup, or Post–Impressionist Art, or whether it will rain today.

12. 23 April 1999 12 The road to solutions Distributed searching ‘Metadata’ Consensus and co–operation Standards, standards everywhere.

13. 23 April 1999 13 What is ‘Metadata’? –meaningless jargon –or a fashionable term for what we’ve always done –or “a means of turning data into information” –and “data about data” –and the name of a film director (‘Luc Besson’) –and the title of a book (‘The Lord of the Flies’).

14. 23 April 1999 14 What is ‘Metadata’? Metadata exists for almost anything; People Places Objects Concepts Web pages Databases.

15. 23 April 1999 15 What is ‘Metadata’? Metadata fulfils three main functions; Description of resource content –“What is it?” Description of resource form –“How is it constructed?” Description of resource use –“Can I afford it?”.

16. 23 April 1999 16 Standards abound MICI

17. 23 April 1999 17 Challenges  Many flavours of metadata  which one do I use?  Managing change  new varieties, and evolution of existing forms  Tension between functionality and simplicity, extensibility and interoperability Functions, features, and cool stuff Simplicity and interoperability Opportunities

18. 23 April 1999 18 Introducing Interoperability Focus Focus upon enabling interoperability between resources in: libraries archives the cultural heritage sector etc.

19. 23 April 1999 19 Introducing Interoperability Focus By: disseminating best practice participating in relevant global standards development initiatives encouraging/ facilitating cross–walks and cross–project communication representing UK interests internationally raising awareness of interoperability’s benefits to users, creators & holders.

20. 23 April 1999 20 Interoperability What…? Not the most transparent job title in the world, now is it…? Searching for a ‘strap line’ to explain it. JISC suggestion… “Interoperability Focus: making sure the drains run downhill”

21. 23 April 1999 21 Introducing the Dublin Core An attempt to improve resource discovery on the Web –now adopted more broadly Building an interdisciplinary consensus about a core element set for resource discovery –simple and intuitive –cross–disciplinary –international –flexible.

22. 23 April 1999 22 15 elements of descriptive metadata All elements optional All elements repeatable The whole is extensible –offers a starting point for semantically richer descriptions Interdisciplinary –libraries, museums, archives… International –available in 20 languages, with more on the way... Introducing the Dublin Core

23. 23 April 1999 23 Title Creator Subject Description Publisher Contributor Date Type Format Identifier Source Language Relation Coverage Rights http://purl.org/dc/ Introducing the Dublin Core

24. 23 April 1999 24 Modular extensibility… –additional elements to support local needs –complementary packages of metadata …but only if we get the building blocks right Extending the Dublin Core Description Archival Management Terms & Conditions Based on a slide by Stu Weibel

25. 23 April 1999 25 Implemented by the Australian and assorted Nordic governments Used or mentioned by the majority of new projects Rapidly approaching CEN and NISO accreditation Expressable in HTML, RDF, local databases… A powerful ‘switching mechanism’ for diverse resources. Dublin Core today

26. 23 April 1999 26 The end…? Increasing quantities of data are becoming available Structures need to evolve to turn them into information in a form that users actually want Interoperability Focus is part of the (slow!) process whereby old standards can converge and new standards can emerge to enable user interaction with data in as seamless and friendly a fashion as possible.