[Sigia-l] Dublin Core and meta-tag length

[Martin Langhoff]

> 1. How prevalent is the Dublin Core in use?
> The client is already using DC for their intranet, but is looking for figures on how widespread it is for external corporate sites.



I am currently working on three large projects based on DC metadata, and 
I am familiar with several projects that use DC as their core (indeed).

  - Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI). The NZ Ministry of Education's educational 
portal. I've had the pleasure to work in this project with SIGIA-L 
regular Andrew McNaughton, who's created a stunning bilingual Dublin 
Core metadata repository & search system which can be seen at 
http://www.tki.org.nz/e/search/ . Search for something and the 'full 
metadata record' can be accessed from the results page. We've used DC 
elements plus some extra elements with thesauri and controlled terms we 
maintain. The site contains over 2GB of content, counting at around 18K 
files, although not everything is accounted for with metadata.

  - The soon-to be-released NZ egovernment portal, currently at 
http://www.portal.govt.nz/ (still behind authentication, sorry). NZ 
government has developed NZGLS, which is an extension of DC, and is 
making it mandatory for govt departments. We've been involved in the 
prototyping and development of the portal.  A truly interesting project.

  - The SOCCI project (managed by the Le at rning Federation) uses a 
metadata profile based on DC to describe learning objects. They have 
developed an object repository with its retrieval mechanisms based on 
the metadata. I am involved as technical advisor (for CWA) on the 
development of learning objects -- not on metadata at all, unfortunately.

With this move, I expect a lot more to happen around DC in NZ. Australia 
is following the same path (sometimes even ahead of NZ). They've 
developed their own DC extension (AGLS), and the state of Victoria seems 
to be currently building a DC metadata based portal now. Victoria 
maintains an education search engine based on DC as well, but with 
several differencies in the criteria. I don't have a link handy, but it 
is known as the 'Victorian Channel'.

The Australian and NZ governments are very committed to DC. I can't 
speak of DC in the private sector, but I expect governments around here 
to start requiring DC-based metadata from their suppliers in some areas. 
There are already some projects aimed at this, and while its probably 
too early to actually bear fruit, the steamroller is moving at a steady 
pace.

regards,




m
-- 
______________________
Martin Langhoff

Team Leader               RHCE
Senior Programmer
martin at cwa.co.nz          Phone: 64 4 382 6523

CWA New Media             http://www.cwa.co.nz
Phone:  64 4 382 6500     PO Box 19-090
Fax:    64 4 382 6509     Wellington, NZ

All parts should go together without forcing. You
must remember that the parts you are reassembling
were disassembled by you.  Therefore, if you can't
get them together again, there must be a reason.

By all means, do not use a hammer.

                 -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925