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(a)csiro.au) and Éamonn Ó Tuama
(eotuama(a)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(a)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
