A Primer on Metadata Standards

1. A Primer on Metadata Standards From Dublin Core to IEEE LOM Julia Innes Rory McGreal Toni Roberts TeleEducation NB

2. I never met a meta metadata I ever really liked.(Dorman, 1999) Like any early inception of any standard, just understanding the landscape is difficult. (Luh, 1999)

3. What is METADATA? data about data Metadata standards are agreed-on criteria for describing data to support interoperability Example: January 31, 2001 31 janvier 2001 2001-01-31 01-31-2000 31012000

4. What is METADATA? Author: Banathy,B.H. Year: 1973 Title: Developing a Systems View of Education: The Systems-Model Approach Publisher: Lear Siegleer, Inc./Fearon Publishers Description: A system needs to be adaptive If it fails to deliver expected outcomes: 1. it adjusts 2. expectations adjust 3. it terminates Call Number: H#X

5. Why METADATA? • Facilitate information sharing • Enable search engines on the Internet • Support intelligent agents & Push • Minimises data loss • Metadata describes learning objects No one can sift 100 million docs Every day

6. Learning objects any entities, digital or non-digital, which can be used or referenced in technology-supported learning • Discoverable • Modular • Interoperable

7. Learning objects • Segment • Lesson • Topic • Course • Programme granularity

8. Why learning objects? • COST: 1000s of colleges have common course topics • large numbers of courses are going online • World does not need 1000s of similar learning topics • World needs only about a dozen • Expensive to develop so sharing is essential • (From Downes, 2000) Design courses as a collection of learning objects NOT HTML

9. Who inputs METADATA? • Two Camps: • Internal referenced - Users input their own metadata • External referenced – Professionals input metadata • number of electronic objects is growing rapidly • metadata required is too much for third-party indexers

10. METADATA characteristics • a data dictionary of commonly defined elements; • a method for manipulating and communicating elements electronically; • rules for identifying and extracting content; • an official standards body; • tools for creating, transmitting, and storing. • Ahronheim (1998)

11. METADATA conditions • Mandatory fields (small subset) • Optional fields • Extensible • International interoperability • Adapted from Griffin and Wason (1997)

12. METADATA challenges Too much concern with FIELDS NOT enough with TERMS • Fields need a common terminology • Described by a content expert BUT • TERMS must fit into a universe of knowledge • AND • Not be only useful to content experts • Cross-searching requires compatible vocabularies

13. What is RDF? (Resource Description Framework) RDF is an infrastructure that enables the encoding, exchange, and reuse of structured metadata (Bearman et al., 1999) RDF is syntax independent, and can be expressed in both XML and HTML. -- World Wide Web Consortium

14. What is RDF? • a generalised format for online resources • expresses all vocabularies with one model and syntax • schema can work in XML Warning: RDF does not solve interoperability problems with legacy metadata AND a variety of RDF description schemas are possible

15. Start designing as a knowlege base not HTML see autonomy.com Online Community Why? Improved learning; Sense of commitment; Learning beyond the content; Reduced workload; Administration; Content; Interaction

16. What is XML? (eXtended Markup Language) Standard General Markup Language • Extends HTML without complexities of SGML • XML is the underlying syntax for the transport of information for exchanging structured data SGML XML HTML

17. What is XML? • any level of complexity • functions without the server • vendor independent • user extensible • validation & human readability Warning: possible Pandora's box of incompatible metatags

18. Why XML? • standardized • uses schemas • machine-readable • two entities can use the same data

19. Metadata and RDF/XML XML = syntax RDF = structure Metadata = semantics & resources

20. METADATA standards • Dublin Core • Warwick Framework • IMS • ARIADNE • IEEE LOM • AICC • ADL SCORM • Merlot?

21. Dublin Core . . . the HTML of Web metadata (Bearman et al., 1999) . . . lingua franca for metadata, . . . at a basic level (Milstead & Feldman, 1999) . . . the most broadly based consensus on resource description on the Web"(Weibel, 1999) http://purl.oclc.org/dc/

22. Dublin Core • coexists with other metadata sets • all elements are optional • all elements are syntax-independent • tagged in HTML, raw XML, or RDF/XML

23. Dublin Core Fields Title Creator Subject Description Publisher Contributor Date Type Format Identifier Source Language Relation Coverage Rights All fields are optional, none are mandatory

24. Warwick Framework • a higher-level context for the Dublin Core • modularization of metadata • facilitates interoperability • permits selective access & manipulation of data WARNING: It can create complexity that is not needed.(Lagoze, 1996) http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july96/lagoze/07lagoze.html

25. IMS Educause: Instructional Management System MANDATE • catalyst for development of instructional software • creation of an online management infrastructure for learning • facilitation of collaborative learning activities • certification Partners: ARIADNE (Europe), NIST LOM, Members:Apple, Cisco,ETS, IBM, Indust.Canada, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, US Defense,etc.

26. IMS Metadata Schema NOT just a metadata schema • incorporates & extends Dublin Core • mandatory fields • simple controlled vocabulary • sets dictionary values • reference schemas • domain-specific taxonomies • RDF/XML http://imsproject.com

27. ARIADNE Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe • fosters the sharing and reuse of electronic pedagogical material, by universities and corporations. • a Europe-wide repository for pedagogical documents (Knowledge Pool System) • co-author of IMS Metadata structure http://ariadne.unil.ch/

28. IEEE LOM P1484.12 Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Learning Object Management Protocol MANDATE • To enable learners or instructors to search, evaluate, acquire, and use Learning Objects • focus on the minimal set of properties needed http://ltsc.ieee.org/index.html

29. AICC Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee Provides guidelines for interoperability for systems to share data online http://aicc.org/ AICC Guidelines & Recommendations (AGR)

30. ADL SCORM Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model Advanced Distributed Learning Network a set of interrelated technical specifications built upon the work of the AICC, IMS and IEEE to create one unified content model http://www.adlnet.org/Scorm/

31. Merlot Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching California State University system’s Distributed Learning and Teaching Initiative & Multimedia Repository Initiative • a collection of high quality interactive online learning materials & people • an example of a learning object repository • does not adhere to universal metadata standards http://www.merlot.org

32. International Metadata Standard for Learning Objects IEEE LOM P1484.12 IMS/ARIADNE Dublin Core Expressed through RDF> XML/SGML

33. POOL Portal for Objects Oriented to Learning a customizable, intelligent, learning object repository

34. POOL

35. POOL Metadata Project New Brunswick Distance Education Network Inc. University of New Brunswick Electronic Text Centre • Specifications for applying IMS to POOL learning objects including: • A base schema & schemas for describing video, audio, and still images at different levels of granularity • Application of schema to the TeleCampus online course database

36. The End