[Web4lib] Joint NISO/DCMI Webinar: Dublin Core: The Road from Metadata Formats to Linked Data

[Cynthia Hodgson]

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the Dublin Core
Metadata Initiative (DCMI) are pleased to announce a new educational
partnership, starting with a webinar on "Dublin Core: The Road from Metadata
Formats to Linked Data," to be held Wednesday, August 25th, from 1:00 - 2:30
p.m. (eastern time).

Created in 1995, the Dublin Core was a result of the early phase of the web
revolution. While most saw the Dublin Core as a simple metadata format, or
as a set of descriptive headers embedded in web pages, a few of its founders
saw it as a cornerstone of a fundamentally new approach to metadata. In the
shadow of search engines, a Semantic Web approach developed in the early
2000s, reaching maturity in 2006 with the Linked Data movement, which uses
Dublin Core as one of its key vocabularies. 

This webinar will discuss the difference between traditional approaches
based on record formats and the Linked Data approach, based on metadata
"statements" designed to be merged across data silo boundaries. Focusing on
the dual role of Dublin Core as a format and as a Semantic Web vocabulary,
this webinar will discuss new technologies for bridging the gap between
traditional and Linked Data approaches, highlighting how old ideas such as
embedded metadata have been reinvented with new web technologies and tools
to solve practical problems of resource discovery and navigation.

Speakers and topics are:

.  Dublin Core in the Early Web Revolution
Makx Dekkers, Managing Director and CEO, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
Ltd. (DCMI)

Makx will describe how the early history of the Dublin Core illustrates an
emerging split between two quite different paradigms for metadata -- one
based on closed systems and record formats and the other based on
recombinational metadata with an "open-world" assumption.

.  What Makes the Linked Data Approach Different
Thomas Baker, Chief Information Officer, DCMI Ltd.

Tom will demonstrate how metadata can be designed for merging across the
boundaries of repositories and data silos.
 
.  Designing Interoperable Metadata on Linked Data Principles
Thomas Baker, Chief Information Officer, DCMI Ltd. 

Tom will show how good metadata design is rooted in well-articulated
requirements and how the interoperability of metadata depends on shared
underlying vocabularies in the context of a shared "grammar" for metadata.
 
.  Bridging the Gap to the Linked Data Cloud
Makx Dekkers, Managing Director and CEO, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
Ltd. (DCMI)

Makx will describe how existing metadata applications can participate in the
Linked Data cloud with emphasis on the role of simple, generic vocabularies
such as the Dublin Core in providing a common denominator for
interoperability.

Registration is per site (defined as access for one computer). NISO and
NASIG members may register at a discounted rate. A student discount is also
available. Can't make it on the scheduled date or time? Registrants receive
access to the recorded version for one year, which can be viewed at your
convenience. For more information or to register, visit the event webpage:
www.niso.org/news/events/2010/dublincore/.



Cynthia Hodgson
NISO Technical Editor Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
Email: chodgson at niso.org
Phone: 301-654-2512