[tdwg] Metadata Discussion Meeting at TDWG 2008 Conference

[Eamonn O Tuama]

Metadata Discussion Meeting at TDWG Conference 2008

Atlas of Living Australia and Global Biodiversity Information Facility 
are co-organisers of a special meeting on metadata to be held at the
TDWG Conference in Fremantle, Australia, Sunday 19 October 2008, 
14.00-17.00.

We propose to open the discussion to any aspect of metadata but with a 
particular focus on metadata standards, major projects, systems in use, 
the role of ontologies, and certain key questions surrounding metadata.

Key Questions
The key questions needing discussion include, but are not limited to, 
the following:

   1. What resources do we want to describe (all digital; some classes
      of digital; digital AND undigitised legacy; human experts, etc.,
      record and dataset level)?
   2. Can we make some preliminary core recommendations on metadata
      elements which all TDWG-related projects should maintain as a minimum?
   3. How do we proceed to fuller recommendations on metadata standards
      and profiles, and web service interfaces, e.g., Open Archives
      Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) - including
      appropriate use of PMH Sets - and Open Archives Initiative Object
      Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE)?
   4. How do we handle natural language differences in metadata?
   5. How can ontologies be effectively used with metadata?
   6. How do we encourage production of good metadata?
   7. How can a global, decentralised biodiversity network best share
      metadata?
   8. Are there any other things we can do immediately to facilitate the
      interchange of metadata between our projects?
   9. How should we avoid duplication of metadata records as they are
      harvested and aggregated in different locations?
  10. Are there pilot activities around which we can test some of these
      ideas?
  11. How should we establish ongoing collaboration within TDWG on this
      topic (wiki, mailing list, convenor, etc.)?


To make effective use of the limited time for such a broad subject, we 
propose to offer a semi-open format for the discussion. This will
revolve around a series of maximum-5-minute, 2-PowerPoint-slides 
presentations from represented projects on i) current metadata strategy 
and standards; ii) issues they need to see addressed. We require 
pre-submission and circulation of these slides to help build a sense of 
collaboration around a process and to create an "Introductory Statement" 
that will guide and inform our discussions on the day. A metadata wiki 
will be established prior to the meeting to aid our discussions.

If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please contact 
the convenors Donald Hobern (Donald.Hobern at csiro.au) and Éamonn Ó Tuama 
(eotuama at gbif.org).  If you wish to make a presentation, please submit 
your slides to the convenors by 1 September 2008.


-- 
Éamonn Ó Tuama, Ms.C., Ph.D. (eotuama at gbif.org),
Senior Programme Officer - Inventory, Discover, Access (IDA), 
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat, 
Universitetsparken 15, 
DK-2100, 
Copenhagen Ø, 
DENMARK

Phone:  +45 3532 1494; 
Fax:  	+45 3532 1480