Why do we create metadata?
Cataloguing rules are the QWERTY keyboard of metadata; they need an update that involves not just moving things around a bit, but rather an entirely new approach. Traditionally, metadata within...
View ArticleMicrodata: How wrong can it be?
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have all stated their backing of microdata, an HTML5 recommendation for metadata.This is big news for the semantic web community, where we're pushing for a web of rich...
View ArticleLOD-LAM summit experiences
The LOD-LAM summit, 02–03 June 2011, San Francisco, USA. LOD-LAM is an abbreviation of Linked Open Data for Libraries Archives and Museums, and the summit brought together people from all over the...
View ArticleSPARQL: Oh yes, you can!
I work with library management systems, and this means occasionally venturing into userland (hell, someone has to). One of my favourite questions to pose members of staff at the help desk in my...
View ArticleOpen data
My take: Open data is a way of providing the raw materials (data) for people to create systems and applications that can help you do the things you need to do. Examples of this include: Mixing...
View ArticleNew Ideas: Institutional refund policy
Having a quick browse about the Interweb, I came across an article that the publisher wanted money for and next to it an in-brackets link, "(refund policy)". The publisher is Ingenta, and the policy...
View ArticleSpecial collections: archives, photos, manuscripts, maps and stuff
I'm currently working on NTNU's special collections, modelling the metadata for manuscripts and journals and creating a feature rich skin that will allow people to experience the content via...
View ArticleNTNU linked open data initiative
NTNU, headed up by the linked open data team at by NTNU University Library has been working with linked open data since 2009, and has driven the production of multiple data sets and systems that use...
View ArticleOf BLOBS, Institutional archives/repositories and CMSes — an exercise in bad...
One of the recurring themes in my life is my contempt for BLOBs; not as bad as it sounds — in one respect — since I mean BLOB as a data type. I can't stand them, thy annoy me and I never want to see...
View ArticleLinked data in libraries & why it isn't going to work
I guess the major problem with linked data in libraries is that there is no real need for it; let's face it, the systems that exist today serve their purpose for the majority of use cases, and...
View ArticleThe semantic web stack: complexity and incomplexity
[Yes, it is a word (I checked the OED)] I'm currently helping some folk I know — database folk — work with semantic technologies, and I'm noticing a few things that are maybe worth mentioning about...
View ArticleOCLC/BIBSYS — what the world doesn't know
BIBSYS, academic libraries in Norway have enjoyed community cataloguing for pretty much every educational institution and a common user interface (both front and back end). This same system was...
View ArticleCommunity cataloguing
If we provide an interface that allows cataloguers to catalogue their stuff and then export to whatever format their system ingests on the understanding that they provide the information under a...
View ArticleA road less travelled
It's discovery layer mania that rules at the moment. As far as I can see there is no reason to not disregard this present fad on the background of it being the same as the federated search bubble that...
View ArticleDefining/Defying reality: the struggle towards relevance in bibliographic data
This is loosely based on a presentationI gave at emtacl12; the presentation was created after I saw a video from Harvard Libraries about the future of academic library services, it’s a good example of...
View ArticleWho evaluates cataloguing?
In a world where I — as an IT person involved in many projects — am expected to evaluate and assess the performance of solutions and technologies, I was asked by a colleague with a similar background...
View ArticleBIBFRAME: not really my bag
Some thoughts after playing with BIBFRAME for a while. BIBFRAME is basically as new set of terms gathered together in one vocabulary that cover "how we catalogue books", i.e. it's an RDF...
View ArticleBIBFRAME: Because we group by content type
Following on from <http://brinxmat.posterous.com/bibframe-not-really-my-bag>. Having a discussion with a colleague, it occurred to me that a big problem with the way we library people work is...
View ArticleBIBFRAME: that data-modelling thing
We can take a look at some BIBFRAME data: <xx:xx_bibframe> a bf:SoftwareApplication, bf:Work ; bf:abstract <xx:abstract1> ; bf:derivedFrom <http://id.loc.gov/resources/bibs/12149120>...
View ArticleSWIB12 Semantic Web in libraries
2012-11-26–2012-11-28, CologneThis three-day conference provided a welcome break from the monotony of staring into our computer screens, to see what other people had achieved and been thinking about...
View Article
