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Re: Non academic library metadata

neilgodfrey 1239149386|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Non academic library metadata

I could add that the sheer size of some of the national and public library systems means it is a full time task for, say, a place like Singapore's library network, to be working on establishing multiple data providers for multiple content and metadata management systems along with their own service provider to take care of all seamlessly. So long as basic standards are deployed throughout then theoretically the time should come when the potentials can be fulfilled.

Re: Non academic library metadata

neilgodfrey 1239083783|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Non academic library metadata

Hi Joan,

I recall that meeting. Am having doubts that the time is right for national/public libraries to be actively involved with MACAR. Pity. Potential is huge for sharing info. But I've come to think that the unique dynamics in the research/academic/ed sectors are what made MACAR possible in the first place. Academics move around and it is vital for researchers to exchange data and publications etc etc. Sharing of efforts and coop projects would seem be a natural outgrowth of that environment. Nothing like that among national libraries, which are focused more on managing their own resources and serving their immediate constituencies. Their sheer size, too, means they have more legacy issues and systems to negotiate than the academic libraries with which I worked.

I suspect national libraries will only be in a position to embark on the sorts of sharing and coop found among the scholarly/research community when they become even more established in their various digital projects and reach till they reach a point where they can look around at others and say, "hey, look what we've got —- anyone want to share? you have similar? can we exchange?" Many snazzy things are being done, but there is still a long way to go, it seems, before they will reach that point.

Neil

Re: Non academic library metadata

Joan Gray 1238380242|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Non academic library metadata

Hi
MACAR at its August 2008 meeting started a discussion about the future membership of MACAR. Members agreed that it would be a good thing to review MACARs membership. Although there was one member from the public sector and one member from the NLA there was discussion about whether MACAR should broaden its scope to include members from New Zealand and even South East Asia. External relationships with the DCMI Scholarly Communications Group and membership of IT-19 were also discussed. It would be
good for MACAR under the new CAIRSS/CAUL service to continue this discussion and take some of these ideas forward.

A practical suggestion for the application of a Type vocabulary

neilgodfrey 1238245055|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » A practical suggestion for the application of a Type vocabulary

MACAR has produced a recommendation for a "resource types" controlled vocabulary to be used in academic and research repositories.

It might be useful for MACAR also to make it clear to those interested in using this list that using it does not preclude them from using other "type" vocabularies as well.

Indeed, DCMI recommends that multiple "type" vocabularies be used when a resource consists of multiple mixed types then multiple "type" terms be used. In particular, for the sake of interoperability, these multiple types should include a standard DCMI Type.

The DC Usage Guide says of the DCMI Type term:

4.4. Type

Label: Resource Type

Element Description: The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the DCMIType vocabulary ). To describe the physical or digital manifestation of the resource, use the FORMAT element.

Guidelines for content creation:

If the resource is composed of multiple mixed types then multiple or repeated Type elements should be used to describe the main components.

Because different communities or domains are expected to use a variety of type vocabularies, best practice to ensure interoperability is to include at least one general type term from the DCMIType vocabulary in addition to the domain specific type term(s), in separate Type element iterations.

Examples:

Type="Image"
Type="Sound"
Type="Text"
Type="simulation"

Note: The first three values are taken from the DCMI Type Vocabulary, and follow the capitalization conventions for that vocabulary. The last value is a term from an unspecified source.

The item described is an Electronic art exhibition catalog:

Type="Image"
Type="Text"
Type="Exhibition catalog"

Note: The first two values are taken from the DCMI Type Vocabulary, and follow the capitalization conventions for that vocabulary. The last value is a term from an unspecified source.

The item described is a Multimedia educational program with interactive assignments:

Type="Image"
Type="Text"
Type="Software"
Type="InteractiveResource"

Note: All values in this example are taken from the DCMI Type Vocabulary, and follow the capitalization conventions for that vocabulary.

UK's Scholarly Works Application Profile takes care of this OAI interoperability requirement by declaring all of its scholarly text vocabulary terms to be subtypes of the DCMI Type, 'Text'.

So when one uses the MACAR type "cartographic material", it is also a good idea (even "best practice") to additionally use the DCMI Type term "image" or "still image". Similarly the MACAR type "data holding" should be accompanied by the DCMI type "dataset".

The reason for including the DCMI vocabulary alongside the MACAR one is to maximize interoperability. Wherever the OAI protocol is found, there the "simple" DC terms will be understood and processed.

Non academic library metadata

neilgodfrey 1238123091|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Non academic library metadata

Since moving to the National and Public library scene the extent to which MACAR's focus has been on the sorts of resources housed in academic repositories has become very apparent.

MACAR included non-academic library representatives but my memory tells me they were not as active as those from the academic scene.

Now I have joined the National Library Board of Singapore (NLB) and am making decisions affecting metadata across the entirety of Singapore's national and public libraries I have had to face up to just how limited in focus MACAR's past work has been. It is a pity the membership was not more evenly balanced between academic and public/state libraries. On the other hand, maybe progress is best happening when it is made a small step at a time.

At the NLB a preliminary list of resource types for the national and public library sectors has been prepared. It contains over 50 resource type terms. Some of those will almost certainly be merged, but the list will be a lot longer than the current MACAR list.

With some of the MACAR members now working with ANDS, and MACAR coming under the umbrella of CAUL, one might expect MACAR to be entrenched further with research and academic library requirements.

I wonder if there are any realistic chances of national libraries cooperating with each other and even with academic libraries, and if there are real benefits to be gained by their doing so. Since moving into the national and public library sector I think there are real potentials for users if it could happen. To expose and share the specialist heritage and wider cultural collections that such libraries house, especially alongside libraries dedicated to research and education, can only be A Good Thing.

Exhibition

Fiona Burton 1228715718|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Minutes05 11 2008

Hi, I noticed from your discussion that you are saying that exhibitions are collections of separate resource types. I accept that.

However we need a resource type that will cover the record for the actual collection which is a research output collected by our Research Management system.
The research outputs are:

1. Individual exhibition of original art; substantial collection of original works by an individual artist exhibited for the first time in a recognised gallery or museum.
2. Representation of original art: collection of at least three original works by an individual artist exhibited for the first time in a recognised gallery or museum.
3. Curatorship of major exhibition not featuring creative work by the curator, or production (including recording), selection, remastering supervision or booklet authoring of CD recordings.

The first 2 could be covered by 1 resource type, but I need a separate one for the 3rd output.

I can give more information if you require. Fiona

Encyclopedia /dictionary entry

Fiona Burton 1228714804|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Minutes05 11 2008

Hi, I noticed from the minutes that a resource type for this type is being proposed. Whilst all the documentation is being written, could somebody tell me what actual wording is being proposed? We have some records waiting for publishing. Fiona

Re: resource type for field notes

KatieBlake 1227653138|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Resource Type

This is an interesting one, Julie, and might fit into the idea of dataset. Then again, maybe not! ANDS would certainly be interested in how to manage this kind of material. When we started, we focused on research publications. Field notes don't fit into that category at all.

I will bring this up with ANDS.

resource type for field notes

Julie McCulloch 1226971044|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Resource Type

Hi,

Would someone like to comment on the possibility of establishing a new resource type, "field notes"? At Monash we are processing 4 sets of field notes and feel that none of the existing MACAR resource types fit. These notes are unpublished and informal.

I did a search in a number of repositories and compiled the following list of resource types used (MACAR resource types are asterisked). I'm wondering how complete the list is, and would people like to add to it, any resource types they are using or would like to use?

book chapter*
book*
cartographic material*
conference abstract
conference item*
conference paper*
conference poster
dataholding*
dataset*
discussion paper
draft
image
interactive resource*
journal article*
learning object
lecture
literary and artistic work
manual
moving image*
multimedia*
musical score*
newspaper article
non text media
other
patent*
preprint/postprint & refereed/nonrefereed report*
research paper/report
review*
rich media
scholarly text*
seminar lecture
small-sized dataset accompanying paper/article/report
software*
sound*
still image*
survey
technical report
text
thesis (PhD)
thesis*
website*
working paper*

Thanks

Julie

Revised definition

Simon McMillan 1226625769|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Website

Following from discussion at the MACAR teleconference on 12/11/08 I would like to suggest the following amended definition (changes in bold). MACAR was reluctant to accept my suggestion that a separate "webpage" resource type might be useful, but asked to suggest an amendment to the definition of the "website" resource type.

Definition: A collection of connected files or webpages, or a single webpage, along with integrally linked files such as graphics, sound and multimedia files, that can be accessed via a domain or subdomain on the internet.

Notes: If a website (and especially a webpage) possesses the characteristics of another resource type, prefer that resource type. For example, journal article, review, etc.

Re: How versatile is this resource type?

Simon McMillan 1226453671|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Website

In MACAR resource type terms I think "webpage" and "website" have a similar heirarchical relationship to that of "book chapter" and "book". In terms of metadata capture there are similar requirements in showing that relationship.

Re: How versatile is this resource type?

neilgodfrey 1225269377|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Website

and wait to see what RDA says in the meantime too — bearing in mind that that also may well undergo revisions.

Re: How versatile is this resource type?

neilgodfrey 1225268885|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Website

This issue is part of a broader discussion that is still ongoing in the Dublin Core and SWAP communities. And it will become increasingly significant with Object Reuse and Exchange (ORE). The actual thing that ties all the different bits and pieces together from various other sites and databases may be nothing more than an html or xml encoding page. But that actual thing or encoding page is nothing but a series of coded commands to collect stuff from everywhere else and to display it all in a certain way. That encoding page is the closest thing to the actual resource. I think of it as the "central nervous system" of the bigger thing. The bigger thing, that is, the display that users see and use, is not what is harvested, nor even possibly actually identified. And it does not even really exist — except when that central nervous system is activated. What is stored and manipulated and edited and used in a database will not be, then, what is actually seen by users.

So we are looking at the concepts of technical FRBR manifestations that are not manifest, of resources that are not real, of resource entities that may not really exist — except as an xml datastream linking to a host of other uri's and a series of commands for certain software to display it in certain configurations — and even those display configurations may well be variable, never constant. For example, is an xml datastream might be viewable as pdf or html or other, and the user has the option of deciding this without ever actually seeing the "original document", which is the xml datastream.

The answer is not with us yet. We don't know what it will finally be. It may well be that RDF and ORE — and the Semantic Web — will force us into new ways of conceptualizing "resources" and "resource types".

In the meantime, I would think the safest option would be to store and describe etc webpages the way LOC's Minerva does (www.loc.gov/minerva/). And then be prepared to mark such collections with a sign, "Watch this space!"

Neil Godfrey

How versatile is this resource type?

Simon McMillan 1222905814|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Website

I'm confronted with some examples of "online or web publications" that, in a printed environment, wouldn't be classifiable under any of the main MACAR resource types. It's the WWW that facilitates their existence, and their "format" is determined, usually, by the parent site to which they belong. In other words, these single pages, or even single entries on a page or site, have characteristics which are determined by their environment and don't conform to a traditional set of descriptive rules. Some of them might be classed under the DEST N category (Entry), but others are closer to journal articles or reviews, though the site where they're located isn't a journal - it's just a site.

I could use the MACAR website resource type, but I don't think its terminology or definition captures the fact that the objects I'm describing are entries or parts of something bigger.

Has anyone else encountered such material, and how have they dealt with it?

Re: Forum categories: properties

krazyguy 1221063614|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Hidden / Comment vs discussion » Forum categories: properties

rock says…

---

welcome.

Foreclosed Homes

Re: Images and their metadata

KatieBlake 1219194023|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Images and their metadata

Yes, the two resource types you should be using are still image, and moving image. They are singular, do not include any punctuation, and use lower case. Case is not an issue in search and retrieval (maybe in display), but any kind of punctuation is asking for trouble, leading to many variations:

• image (still)
• image - still
• image:still
• image : still
• image/still
• still images
• images (still)
• images - still
• images:still
• images : still

The Vocabulary definitions for the two types are:

still image – A static visual representation.
Source of term: DCMI, ADS
Source of definition: DCMI
Note: Examples include photographs, paintings. drawings etc. Assign the type text to images of textual materials.

moving image - A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession.
Source of term: DCMI
Source of definition: DCMI
Note: Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.

These two types do cover most images, with the exception that if it is an image of a map then you should use cartographic material. If it is an image of a musical score then you should use musical score.

The question about text is answered in the note for still image. If it is a scanned image of text, then use text. If it is an image included as part of an object with text and images, it will depend on the predominating type and whether you are treating it as one compound object. The notes on multimedia might help here:

multimedia - a complex resource expressed through multiple forms eg text, audio, and/or visual form.
Note: If a single media type predominates or is a substantial part of the resource use the single media type eg text, sound, moving or still image. If more than one type applies use multimedia.

Images and their metadata

KatieBlake 1219191381|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / General discussion » Images and their metadata

Vicki Picasso asks a few interesting questions about metadata for images, and asks MACAR's recommendations.

For Images - I should use 2 different resource types:

• still image
• moving image

Expressed as above, and not

• image (still)
• image (moving)

Use Still Images for : photographs, paintings, drawings, digital images (art), posters, postcards, etc
Use Moving Image for : movies, videos, TV program, animations, etc

Can you confirm that the these 2 resource types are the total number of types for images, i.e. that these 2 types should cover most things encountered at the moment?

And lastly, if I have images that are individual or mulitple pages from a manuscript (scanned/photographed) which resource type would you recommend? Does 'Still image' cover textual representation?

Re: This list is way too short

KatieBlake 1217395718|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Resource Type

Thanks for your input, Steve. It is great to get feedback and discussion on these matters.

Any list is going to have its shortcomings. We are all too well aware of the issues in confusing type and format and genre and content and carrier. From our work though, and from what the NLA tells us about their harvesting, we see that inconsistency in terminology for resource types is rampant, and that this leads to problems in retrieving and presenting clustered results For harvesting/aggregation to really work well the solutions are: a) for the harvester to develop a multiplicity of scripts to map from all the variations and permutations out there to something consistent (which they are understandably reluctant to do), or b) for some consistency to be applied among the repositories.

We have a chance at this stage in repository development to have a stab at consistency. If there are types missing then we can add them, but we are trying to achieve consistency in terminology for the types that we have.

Of course there are some repositories which already contain data that has non-MACAR resource types. Should they be changed? In VITAL repositories those values could be changed using the FABULOUS. Or the data could be left as is, and perhaps some mapping tools developed.

Is there a need? We think so. Are there gaps? We know so. Should we keep going? We think so, and will take all suggestions very gratefully.

Re: This list is way too short

Joan Gray 1216794413|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Resource Type

Survey results also show that a review and update of the vocabulary is needed. A number of questions are timely Do the principles/objectives on which the list is based need revising ? The ERA initiative (replacing the RQF) may have new requirements for research publication data? Review of terms, definitions, level of granularity, implementation-specific issues, interoperability, best practice - lots to discuss. MACAR to meet soon

Re: This list is way too short

Ann Huthwaite 1216707645|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
in discussion Comments and discussion / Comments » Resource Type

I think any list of resource types for research output is going to be a compromise.

It should include terms that are sufficiently granular and yet not be so long that it is unwieldy and difficult to apply.
It should include terms for content (e.g. "moving image") and also terms for different types of scholarly text (e.g. "conference paper") that are commonly used to describe research output.
It should be interoperable with other metadata schema, e.g. DCMI.
It should be flat list and not hierarchical as the terms are easier to record in the metadata record.

The MACAR group took a practical approach rather than a purely logical one. We felt that other levels in a hierarchy and other concepts (e.g. genre) can be recorded in the metadata.

It's interesting to note that institutions responding to the survey on use of the MACAR list have said that they intend to apply it in their repositories.