This page is based upon text submitted to the Interoperability Focus Advisory Committee, and represents a number of the main activities in the month of May. The list is not exhaustive, and comments and queries are welcomed.
Work produced
Some time was spent incorporating comments into the Dublin Core Data Model document mentioned last month. This document has now been released for a period of public comment.
the Web site has been enhanced slightly, including the addition of this News section.
as mentioned last month, Shelagh Fisher wrote a paper for Catalogue & Index, with some input from me.
Events attended
Lorcan Dempsey and I travelled down to Cambridge to spend a day
with the mda. The discussion appeared useful to both groups, and included exploration of a number of areas in which the work of UKOLN and mda might be seen as complementary.
I am currently working to draft ideas for a jointly organised meeting
later in the year, at which participants can identify common interoperability issues across the library, archive, and cultural heritage sector.
Jean-Pierre Evain of EBU came to Hull to discuss DAVIC. They are developing standards for the description of broadcast materials (television programmes!), and are working with the major broadcasters (BBC, Canal+, etc.), carriers and manufacturers (Philips, Sony,...) on descriptive metadata suitable for transmission, display and query via next-generation set-top boxes. They were especially interested in Dublin Core, XML, and RDF.
Work in Progress
Work continues on the 'Information Landscapes' document.
Contact has been made with IMS, IEEE LOM, and various
CEN/ISSS groups, and I am now beginning to participate in their discussions, especially focussing upon areas in which they might usefully be encouraged to interoperate amongst themselves or with others.
Preparatory work is being done for a possible 'Supporting Action' for the European Commission's Framework 5 programme. Possible partners have been identified in the UK and the Netherlands.
Rosemary Russell, Tracy Gardner and myself have been tasked with carrying forward ideas related to the MODELS Information Architecture (MIA). This was discussed at the last IF Advisory Committee meeting, and the intention is that the document we prepare will form a submission to the final MODELS workshop later this year. The three of us are now working on various aspects of the document.
further work was done on the Z39.50 Interoperability Profile, with a
teleconference to discuss Bill Moen's latest draft and the comments we had submitted on it.
a significant amount of time has been spent dealing with general
queries from the community.
Memberships
new committees this month include;
an invitation from the Museums & Galleries Commission to be their nominee on the Management Board of the mda was accepted
I have been appointed as Chair of the Dublin Core Data Model group, with Eric Miller of OCLC as co-chair.
Monthly News