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@csiro.au) and Éamonn Ó Tuama (eotuama@gbif.org). If you wish to make a presentation, please submit your slides to the convenors by 1 September 2008.