This page is based upon text submitted to the Interoperability Focus Advisory Committee, and represents a number of the main activities in the month of March. The list is not exhaustive, and comments and queries are welcomed.
Events attended
- Early in March, Paul attended an interesting meeting at EDINA in Edinburgh. This meeting, organised by the JOIN-UP set of projects funded under JISC's 5/99 call, looked at a range of linking technologies, including OpenURLs and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The meeting was kicked off with a presentation by Andy Powell on the evolving DNER Architecture, which helped to place later presentations in context.
- Both Paul and Pete attended the latest meeting of MEG, the Metadata for Education Group (www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/), kindly hosted by the LTSN Engineering Centre at the University of Loughborough. In the absence of Bruce Royan from SCRAN, Paul Chaired, and Pete took the minutes. A number of actions arose from this meeting and are ongoing.
- Paul attended a meeting of the National Union Catalogue Steering Committee. The outcomes from the public consultation day were discussed, and timetables for delivery of the final report were explored. This is expected after Easter.
- Both Paul and Pete - together with other UKOLN staff - spent time preparing and presenting a bid to JISC, RSLP and the BL for a national Focus for Collection Level Description, to be funded for one year, and to build upon earlier RSLP-funded work in this area. The UKOLN bid was made in partnership with mda and the Archives Hub.
- Paul travelled to Manchester along with staff from the Office of the e-Envoy, JISC's DNER Office, and Resource. We were there as guests of the British Council, to look at work they've been doing with the Autonomy Knowledge Management system, specifically for their new Human Rights portal.
- Pete attended the launch of the Archives Hub (www.archiveshub.ac.uk/) in Manchester.
- Paul travelled to DfEE, for a meeting involving Dick Palmer (Head of ICT Strategy) and others from DfEE, as well as John Brown from BECTa, Lorcan from the DNER, and Steve Church and Clive Jeyes from North Lincolnshire College. This meeting was extremely interesting, with Clive and Steve presenting some ideas on interoperable and open ways forward in e-Learning across a range of levels; very much the kind of thing we're trying to do in MEG. There was some discussion of how this might be moved forward, and we're exploring ways in which MEG might be closely involved.
Publications
- Pete contributed an article to the most recent Ariadne on the growth of "e-Learning" and some possible consequences for the custodians of information resources, both digital and non-digital.
- Paul contributed short pieces on MEG to both Ariadne (www.ariadne.ac.uk/) and D-Lib magazine (www.dlib.org/).
Other
- Both Paul and Pete spent time contributing to the ongoing UKOLN Review this month.
- Both Paul and Pete spent some time tidying up parts of the MEG website (www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/). This work is ongoing.
- Pete has continued work on the registration of MEG-related metadata schemas/profiles.
MEG Concord
Monthly News