Working With Image Metadata? Need Some Help? We Can Help You Find Your Perfect Developer Partners!

Just one day after Valentine’s Day, come and share your image metadata problems with developers at ‘Picture This!’. This one-day workshop being run as part of the Dev8D+ programme of events in London on 15th February 2011, is a great chance to work on real-life issues around image metadata, talk to developers, get their help in solving your problems and… get some real-life solutions!

We’re offering

• A chance to outline your problems to developers in a lightning talk
• A chance to brief developers and help create practical solutions to use in your own work
• A Developer Challenge that will run throughout Dev8D – 16th-17th Feb for the best solutions, plus mystery tokens and other prizes to encourage developers and reward their hard work
• A chance to network with other practitioners working in the same area
• Free lunch

What you need to do -

• Log in to the Picture This! page on the Dev8D wiki, where you can outline the problems and issues you face, and ask for help   before the workshop
• Come along on to the workshop and give a lightning talk outlining your problems and issues
• Talk to developers about your problems, answer their questions, give them feedback
• Work with developers on the day to create practical solutions

Picture This! is a one-day workshop taking place at Dev8D+ and run jointly by the Metadata Forum and the Application Profiles Support project. The workshop will bring together developers and non-technical practitioners to explore the issues around image-based metadata.

Starting with a programme of lightning talks where participants can share experiences, explain problems and pitch ideas, the day will focus on providing participants with practical solutions to image metadata problems. The workshop offers a unique opportunity for participants from a technical and non-technical background to work together to find ways to improve the delivery of services dealing with images. The event requires no previous experience, just an interest in metadata and images and a willingness to explore working together.

Places are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment!

*Photo courtesy of nixiepixel, via Flickr, under CC license.

*photo details at end of post

Just a quick update to confirm that despite recent adverse weather conditions, the Metadata Forum meeting on metadata for complex objects is still happening in York on Friday 10/December. There’s been a slight change to the original speaker lineup, but due to illness not snow. We’re tough up north!!

The speakers will be -

Nick Sheppard, Repository Developer, (sometimes Repository Czar), Leeds Metropolitan University

Nick will be talking about his experiences developing a “blended”repository for research and Open Educational Resources at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Julie Allinson, Digital Library Manager for the Library & Archives, University of York

Julie will be talking about the work of the Digital Library at the University of York, and in particular their work with images.

Jodie Double, Digital Content and Repositories Manager, University of Leeds

Jodie will be talking about user generated catalogue records for audio and video vs. the perfect record that is sometimes attempted to be achieved.

To find out more about the speakers and check the programme, see the Meeting Page.

This meeting is also now on Lanyrd, (with thanks to Nick Sheppard), so if you’re attending, go along and join the event page at – http://lanyrd.com/2010/metaforum/

This Forum meeting has been fully booked since Monday, but if you have questions or comments and are not able to attend, don’t forget to contact me and I’ll make sure your interest is represented at the meeting.

Contact me via -

Email – s.taylor@ukoln.ac.uk

Twitter – @metadataforum

Or leave a comment here on the blog.

There will be a live Twitter stream from the meeting tomorrow using the tag

#mdforum

Notes, speaker slides and other information will be available on Monday, so check back then.

*Photo from Autowitch via Flickr, used with thanks under CC license.

Bookings for the next Forum meeting on 10th December 2010 are brisk. Clearly metadata for complex objects is a hot topic for many people right now. I’ll be publishing short overviews from the speakers later in the week, but I can confirm that we will be hearing about images, theses and teaching and learning objects, with further announcements to come. If you want to attend but haven’t yet booked, you can do so using the booking form, which also links to full details of the meeting and venue.**

I’ve also been pleased to receive questions and comments via email and Twitter from people who aren’t able to attend the meeting in person, but still have a contribution to make. If you can’t make the meeting, feel free to drop me an email, tweet @metadataforum or even give me a call and let me know  your thoughts and questions. All contributions received before the day or on the day itself will be presented during the meeting, and discussions and answers to queries will be fed back to everyone via Twitter and the blog. Speaker notes and presentations will also be freely available after the meeting, again with links and and overviews here on the blog.

The tag for the meeting will be -

#mdforum

You will be able to follow announcements about the event via twitter (as well as feeds from blogs and websites etc.) by searching for the above tag. If you are new to twitter, please visit, http://www.twitter.com and create an account for yourself. We will be using technologies like this frequently, before, during and after the event. If you require a twitter client (software to keep up to date with the latest tweets), several can be found at http://www.twitstat.com/twitterclientusers.html.

*Image of the University of York temporary protakbin library accommodation during the current refurbishment project.

**A final note on the location -  the meeting will be held at the University of York library portakabin. In answer to many tweets about the venue, I think you’ll agree it’s a portakabin, but not as we know it

The next meeting of the Metadata Forum will look at the practical aspects of creating and managing metadata for complex objects. This event is free, though booking is essential. Priority will be given to delegates from UK HEIs, though people with an interest in the subject from other sectors are welcome if numbers allow.

The term ‘complex objects’ covers a wide variety of non-standard items, including non-text-based formats and multi-layered items. Such objects are increasingly being presented as deposits in institutional repositories and other content management and discovery contexts. The meeting will look at practical problems and solutions, with a chance to learn from the hands-on experience of people already working with such objects.

The first part of the meeting will focus on individual case studies from people currently working with complex objects. This will be followed by an open discussion session around the presentations with a chance to discuss individual problems and solutions in an informal group.  Following a networking lunch, the meeting will conclude with a round table session to discuss the common themes and issues emerging from managing the metadata for complex objects. Suggestions for how we can better support each other in this area of work will be explored and fed back to the wider community.

Programme and booking form available at http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/metadata-forum/complex_objects/

The Metadata Forum had a great first meeting on Wednesday. Despite being towards the end of a busy conference day, we had a good turn out of people from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the USA all bringing valuable and interesting contributions to the Forum. I’d like to thank everyone who attended, and also the people who emailed in contributions both before and after the meeting.

Although we only had a one-hour slot to talk, we covered a lot of topics, so in this post I’ll summarise the main themes of the discussion. I’ll cover the main issues raised individually in subsequent posts.

We started with everyone sharing with the group their own particular  metadata interests and experiences. As the group ranged from national projects to smaller, institutional initiatives, taking in regional collaborations, support services and even a museum along the way, it was an interesting way to get started! Despite the wide range of applications, some overall themes emerged fairly quickly.

Complexity versus simplicity was the first discussion point. Overall, simple was seen as a good approach, but comprehensive, more complex usage could be critical depending on the objects being described and their expected use. This was a rich seam for discussion and the group highlighted this area as on for further exploration.

This led on to a discussion about standards and how even the most pared-down, simplistic versions of a standard can be implemented in very different ways and lead to a lack of consistency that can create problems for aggregation further down the line. The subject of aggregation was of great interest. Several attendees shared hands-on experience of aggregation. This was a topic seen as important for everyone in the group, and one that could be considered for a show-and-tell session followed by discussion at one of the face-to-face meetings planned later in the year.

Having identified aggregation as topic of interest, we discussed the kind of future face-to-face meetings people would find useful. Specific topics, sent out in advance so that attendees could prepare for participation in a focussed discussion was seen as a good idea. In addition, everyone was keen on sharing their knowledge and their current projects, so a show-and-tell session that could act as a place to exchange experiences and learn from each others would be a good addition. Ways of communicating between face-to-face meetings were also covered, and I’ll be devoting a post to this later. I’d like to open up the discussion via this blog on both ways of communicating in a virtual environment.

The idea of case studies, where people would write up specific aspects of their metadata-related work to share with others was greeted enthusiastically. The less formal approach of making these available as a post here on the blog rather than as a formal report seemed to fit in realistically with the inevitable heavy workloads of project and repository managers, so watch this space. Advanced notice that there are promised case study posts from three participants at this first meeting, a very encouraging sign!

The discussion naturally moved on to standards, schemas and other useful resources. The group were keen to share useful resources they had found and make these available online for others to use. Providing a place to look for metadata resources was also identified as something that everyone could participate in, taking little time to pass on and not requiring attendance at any face-to-face meetings. More news on this will follow early next week.

Finally, the level of knowledge and experience that the Forum aimed to support was discussed. This is, I think, another ongoing conversation and one that those attending the first meeting would be keen to open up and continue. Although there was a strong feeling to support those new to (and possibly terrified of) working with metadata, people with more experience also felt that being able to discuss issues with similarly experienced peer practitioners was also very important. Again, this come back to one of the foundations of the Forum, to support the needs of those who become involved.

*Photo shows the other main event happening in Madrid on 7th July – crowds watching Spain going through to the finals of the World Cup on screens at the Bernabeu stadium across the road from the OR10 Confernce venue.

The Metadata Forum will be officially launched at the Open Repositories Conference in Madrid. The conference runs from 6th – 9th July with the Forum launch taking place on Wednesday 7th July, 15.45-16.45  at a Birds of a Feather session. If you’re attending the conference, please come along and join in. If you’re not able to attend the conference, you can still take part by emailing or tweeting your ideas, questions and thoughts before, during and after the meeting.

I’ll be attending the full conference, so please feel free to chat to me at any time about metadata!

The meeting will be covered here on the blog, and I’m also hoping to encourage people to tweet the proceedings, so please follow @MetadataForum on Twitter.

More news about the meeting will be posted here soon…