[openbiblio-dev] Open Metadata Handbook

Wed Nov 23 17:58:29 UTC 2011

Dear Primavera,

First, sorry for the delay, I was on a quite long holiday.

Second, thanks for the ping. In fact I'm suscribed to the openbiblio-dev list, so I was already aware of your efforts.
And if there's room for us, we'll be gladly considering your offer(s). Especially, there is a Europeana-related project (http://www.europeana-libraries.eu/) that could be in position to make relevant contributions.

However, I have to admit that I share some of the doubts that were raised on the list recently--a reason why I did not enter the discussion sooner. Especially, what is the aim and scope of that Open Metadata Handbook? Addressing the realm of all creative works is a bit ambitious. Finding an agreement on bibliographic data alone can prove difficult enough... The introduction of the wiki is quite unclear on this:
"The goal is to produce something that can be given to various GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) institutions to help them setting up a proper metadata model for their works. We want to provide them a few simple steps that illustrate the best practices (or second-best practices) in terms of bibliographic metadata for each category of works."

Also, I wonder what is the specificity induced by "openness" in this work--in other words, why would such metadata spec effort be carried out by the Open Biblio group. Especially, what would be the relation/difference with work undertaken as part of say, the Dublin Core Library application profile (http://dublincore.org/documents/library-application-profile/) ?

Cheers,

Antoine

PS: by the way the links to the Library Linked Data W3C group can be updated on your wiki. It's now published at http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/XGR-lld/ :-)

> Hi Antoine, Martin, Michel, Daniel, Emanuelle and Herbert
>
> I write to you on behalf of the Public Domain Working Group of the Open Knowledge Foundation.
> We are currently working on the making of the Open Metadata Handbook - http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Open_Metadata_Handbook
> and we were wondering the following:
>
> (1) whether you or anyone else you know might be interested in contributing to it, and if so, whether you'd like to join the task-force;
> (2) whether you already have some work lying around that you think might be useful or that could even be integrated directly into the guide,
> (3) or whether you have any kind of suggestions, ideas, or any useful comments about it :)
>
> Looking forward to your replies,
> Primavera !
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Jonathan Gray* <jonathan.gray at okfn.org <mailto:jonathan.gray at okfn.org>>
> Date: Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 12:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [openbiblio-dev] Bibliographic Metadata Guide is now on Wiki !
> To: Primavera De Filippi <primavera.defilippi at okfn.org <mailto:primavera.defilippi at okfn.org>>
> Cc: Public Domain discuss list <pd-discuss at lists.okfn.org <mailto:pd-discuss at lists.okfn.org>>, openbiblio-dev at lists.okfn.org <mailto:openbiblio-dev at lists.okfn.org>
>
>
> Great start Primavera.
>
> Due to the breadth of this (not just books, but films, artworks, etc)
> - what about renaming this to the Open Metadata Handbook? I think this
> is what we originally discussed. What do you think?
>
> Also I'd ping Europeana Data Model (EDM) people as soon as possible,
> if you haven't done so already. They may have existing work or ideas
> that we might be able to build on, incorporate or at least allude to
> and bear in mind!
>
> The metadata standards section [1] is epic (and scary!). ;-)
>
> J.
>
> [1] http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bibliographic_Metadata_Guide/Metadata_Standards
>
> On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 3:26 PM, Primavera De Filippi
> <primavera.defilippi at okfn.org <mailto:primavera.defilippi at okfn.org>> wrote:
>  >
>  > Hi all
>  > As you might already know, the Public Domain Working Group and the Open
>  > Bibliographic Data Working Groupof the Open Knowledge Foundationare working
>  > on the drafting of a Bibliographic Metadata Guide.
>  > The goal is to produce something that can be hand in to various GLAM
>  > institutions to help them setting up a proper metadata model for their
>  > works.
>  > We want to provide them a few simple steps that illustrates the best
>  > practices (or second-best practices) in terms of bibliographic metadata for
>  > each category of works.
>  > The guide has now been turned into a Wikibook for easier editing, the
>  > current draft is available here
>  > http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bibliographic_Metadata_Guide
>  > We would like to involve the whole community in this project, so please feel
>  > free to contribute it any way you like, and if you know someone that might
>  > be interested in contributing to this guide, please don't hesitate to
>  > forward the link to them.
>  >
>  > Main tasks which are still to be completed are:
>  >
>  > - review & add to the current minimum/complete list of core metadata
>  > elements for literary work + provide a similar minimum/complete list of core
>  > metadata elements for other kinds of works
>  >
>  > - review/edit the current description of metadata standards + eventually
>  > provide some additional information concerning who uses what
>  >
>  > - for the last section, produce a decision-tree, where different data
>  > providers can answer simple questions in order to find out what are
>  > best-practices for them, in terms of exchange format and metadata format.
>  >
>  > Finally, we are trying to set up a small task-force of contributors who
>  > would be assigned specific sections or tasks. If you are interested in
>  > joining the task force, please don't hesitate to contact me.
>  >
>  > Thanks !
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > openbiblio-dev mailing list
>  > openbiblio-dev at lists.okfn.org <mailto:openbiblio-dev at lists.okfn.org>
>  > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/openbiblio-dev
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
> --
> Jonathan Gray
>
> Community Coordinator
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://www.okfn.org
>
> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>