1. InteroperabilityLIS 688-Metadata Group 6: Krishawna Brown, Thomas Kozak, Whit Preston, and Alison Walsh May 1, 2011 Click the above icon for audio narration.
2. Interoperability-Definition National Information Standards Organization (NISO)- “...the ability of multiple systems with different hardware and software platforms, data structures, and interfaces to exchange data with minimal loss of content and functionality. (NISO 2004).” Essentially, function must not be lost. Click the above icon for audio narration.
3. Interoperability-Definition (Continued) Some definitions emphasize what obstacles an interoperability initiative must overcome: “Metadata interoperability is a qualitative property of metadata information objects that enables systems and applications to work with or use these objects across system boundaries (Haslhofer & Klas, 2010, p. 7:14).” Click the above icon for audio narration.
4. The Importance of Metadata Interoperabilty Why important? “The ultimate goal for such systems is for the components to evolve independently yet be able to call on one another efficiently and conveniently (Paepcke et al., 1998).” Click the above icon for audio narration.
5. Issues of Interoperability Gail Hodge In regard to consistency, “… information collected by one organization for a particular purpose can be searched, exchanged, transferred, used, and understood by another organization for a different purpose” (Hodge, 2005, p. 39). Click the above icon for audio narration.
6. Interoperability Problems Several issues must be tackled: The machines must be able to communicate. The systems must also understand and process objects from another system. Finally, on the semantic level, structures must be put in place for correct interpretation of the objects, by humans or by machines. Click the above icon for audio narration.
7. Abstraction Levels Most Concrete Most Abstract Technical Syntactic Semantic Pragmatic Dynamic Conceptual Source: (Haslhofer & Klas, 2010) Click the above icon for audio narration.
8. Overall Categories of Interoperability Uniform standard -> In other words, multiple organizations agree on one standard to use. Application profiling/adaptation/modification -> Different modifications starting from one standard. Derivation -> Start with complex standard and simplify for different uses. Crosswalk/mapping -> Organizations use different standards, use crosswalks to move from one to another. Click the above icon for audio narration.
9. Overall Categories of Interoperability (Continued) Switching schema -> Hub-like structure: organizations using different schemas all crosswalk to one “central” schema, then back again. Lingua franca -> “set of core attributes” common to multiple schemas. More difficult interoperability using this method. Metadata framework/container -> Essentially a superschema, which contains elements from all the schemas used by participating organizations. Source: Chan, Lois Mai. (2005) Metadata interoperability: a study of methodology. Retrieved April 20, 2011 from http://white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl19chan.htm Click the above icon for audio narration.
10. Conclusion The research: 2 main categories: Extremely technical Broad Each organization must assess what specific obstacles must be overcome while at the same time being able to incorporate: usability for the sake of practicality. flexibility and adaptability for the sake of creating the next schema. Click the above icon for audio narration.
11. References Chan, Lois Mai. (2005) Metadata interoperability: a study of methodology. Retrieved April 20, 2011 from http://white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl19chan.htm Haslhofer, B. & Klas, W. (2010). A survey of techniques for achieving metadata interoperability. ACM Computing Surveys, 42(2), 7.1-7.37. doi:10.1145/1667062.1667064 Hodge, G. (2005). Metadata for electronic information resources: From variety to interoperability. Information Services & Use, 25, 35-45. Click the above icon for audio narration.
12. References (Continued) National Information Standards Organization. (2004). Understanding Metadata. Retreived April 20, 2011 from http://www.niso.org/publications/press/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf Paepcke, A., Chang, C.C., Winograd, T., & García-Molina, H. (1998), “Interoperability for digital libraries worldwide”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 33-42. Click the above icon for audio narration.
Editor's Notes
Hello. My name is Whit Preston, and I’d like to introduce you to Group 6: Krishawna Brown, Thomas Kozak, myself, and Alison Walsh. The topic that we as a group agreed upon undertaking is interoperability. Within the next few slides, I would like to narrate the research that was conducted by Krishawna, Thomas, and Alison. The bulk of the information consists of a review of the academic, scholarly and institutional research that has been conducted by associations such as the National Information Standards Organization and journals such as the International Journal on Digital Libraries and D-Lib Magazine.
There are numerous definitions that could be given to describe the concept of interoperability. However, according to a report titled Understanding Metadata and published in 2004 by the National Information Standards Organization, interoperability is defined as ““...the ability of multiple systems with different hardware and software platforms, data structures, and interfaces to exchange data with minimal loss of content and functionality.” And what this basically means is that the end function of what is being created must not be lost.
A second definition, presented in an article titled, A survey of techniques for achieving metadata interoperability,published in ACM Computing Surveys, Volume 42, Issue (2), and authored by Haslhofer & Klas, states, “Metadata interoperability is a qualitative property of metadata information objects that enables systems and applications to work with or use these objects across system boundaries”. This particular definition stresses what obstacles an interoperability initiative must overcome.
So why is metadata interoperability useful or important? To answer this, one should refer to “Interoperability for digital libraries worldwide”, a report created by the ACM. Essentially, interoperability is most efficient, effective and convenient when each system’s components can evolve independently yet be able to call on one another.
In regard to the issues of the CONSISTENCY of interoperability, Gail Hodge has been able to define it in the simplest manner. What must be considered is the fact that information collected by one organization for a particular purpose must be searched, exchanged, transferred, used and understood by another organization for a DIFFERENT purpose.
Other issues to consider when utilizing interoperability include the following: the machines must be able to communicate, and the systems must also understand and process objects from another system. At the semantic level, structures must be put in place for correct interpretation of the objects, whether it be by humans or by machines.
The information on this slide consists of the abstraction levels of interoperability. The most concrete level is the technical, followed by syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, dynamic, and conceptual, which is the most abstract. The levels have been put in order, from most concrete to most abstract.
There are 7 categories of interoperability. (Read each one).
(Read each category).
The research that has been conducted can be divided into two main categories: 1) Extremely technical and 2) Broad. Each organization must assess what obstacles must be overcome while at the same time being able to incorporate: 1) usability for the sake of practicality and 2) flexibility and adaptability for the sake of creating the next schema.
The following two slides consist of the references utilized for the creation of the presentation. A more in-depth coverage of interoperability is available within the contents of the research paper created by our group.
We hope that the information within this presentation has been informative. Thanks for your time!
