Metadata Application Metadata Application Profiles in Agricultural Profiles in Agricultural Learning RepositoriesLearning Repositories

N.ManouselisN.Manouselis, K.Kastrantas, G. Salokhe, , K.Kastrantas, G. Salokhe,

J. Najjar, Ch. Stracke, E. DuvalJ. Najjar, Ch. Stracke, E. DuvalProject Team, Workshop on Learning Technologies, European Project Team, Workshop on Learning Technologies, European

Standardisation Committee (WS-LT CEN/ISSS)Standardisation Committee (WS-LT CEN/ISSS)

introductionintroduction

digital repositorydigital repository

• ““system for the system for the storagestorage, , locationlocation and and retrievalretrieval of digital resources” of digital resources”

Holden C., “From Local Challenges to a Global Community: Learning Repositories Summit”, Academic ADL Co-Lab, 2003

digital digital learninglearning repository repository

• ……the the naturenature of resources or their of resources or their descriptiondescription reflects an interest of reflects an interest of use in an use in an educational contexteducational context

any agricultural ones?any agricultural ones?

any agricultural ones?any agricultural ones?

any agricultural ones?any agricultural ones?

any agricultural ones?any agricultural ones?

agricultural learning resource agricultural learning resource metadata metadata

basic info

• metadata: data about an information resource (data about data)– used to describe information resources– facilitate categorization, storage, search

and retrieval

• metadata schema: a structured description about characteristics and properties of a type of information resource

preliminary study

• took place during 2005• examined 59 well-known generic

learning repositories– identified 27 with agricultural content

• from a total of ~881,000 learning resources

Tzikopoulos et al., "Investigating Digital Learning Repositories' Coverage of Agriculture-related Topics", ITAFE 2005.

AgricultureLivestock

Plant diseases, Weeds, and Pest Control

Forestry, Forest Products and Agroforestry

Crops and Horticulture

Natural Resources and Plant Science

Economics, Trade and Rural Development

Fisheries

Soil Science

Food

0

500

1000

1500Sum

34.5% of resources not classified 34.5% of resources not classified (generally: agriculture)(generally: agriculture)

IMS CanCore IEEE_LOM Dublin_Core Other None

0

2

4

6

8

Sum

Majority uses a Majority uses a metadata standard metadata standard (mainly (mainly IEEE LOM or IEEE LOM or

LOM basedLOM based, and , and Dublin CoreDublin Core))

CEN/ISSS WL-LT project teamCEN/ISSS WL-LT project team

• set up to explore implemented set up to explore implemented metadata in agricultural learning metadata in agricultural learning repositoriesrepositories

• membersmembers– EuropeEurope: Nikos Manouselis (Greece), Kostas : Nikos Manouselis (Greece), Kostas

Kastrantas (Greece), Jehad Najjar Kastrantas (Greece), Jehad Najjar (Belgium), Christian M. Stracke (Germany), (Belgium), Christian M. Stracke (Germany), Erik Duval (Belgium)Erik Duval (Belgium)

– InternationalInternational: Venkataraman Balaji (CGIAR), : Venkataraman Balaji (CGIAR), Gauri Salokhe (FAO) Gauri Salokhe (FAO)

aimaim

• study how learning resource metadata study how learning resource metadata APs are being implemented for APs are being implemented for agriculture-related topics & domainsagriculture-related topics & domains

• provide recommendations to provide recommendations to implementers implementers – ““Guidelines and support for building Guidelines and support for building

application profiles in e-learning”application profiles in e-learning”

analysis tool analysis tool

• based on a number of conformance based on a number of conformance aspects:aspects:– documentationdocumentation– scope & purposescope & purpose– selection of elementsselection of elements– allowed vs. non-allowed modifications of allowed vs. non-allowed modifications of

base schema (conformance)base schema (conformance)– mapping of elements to base schema(s)mapping of elements to base schema(s)

coverage coverage

• nine (9) APs have been locatednine (9) APs have been located– six (6) have been fully analysedsix (6) have been fully analysed– one (1) has been partially analysed one (1) has been partially analysed

[not enough information][not enough information]

– two (2) not analysed two (2) not analysed [no documentation [no documentation yet]yet]

examined APsexamined APs

• Rural-eGov IEEE LOM (ReGov LOM)Rural-eGov IEEE LOM (ReGov LOM)• FAO Agricultural Learning Resources (FAO FAO Agricultural Learning Resources (FAO

Ag-LR).Ag-LR).• CGIAR LOM Core (CG LOM Core)CGIAR LOM Core (CG LOM Core)• BIOAGRO LOM BIOAGRO LOM • Biosci Education Network (BEN)Biosci Education Network (BEN)• Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Sustainable Agriculture and Natural

Resource Management Collaborative Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP) Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP)

• TrAgLor LOMTrAgLor LOM• Intute: Health and Life Sciences (Intute)Intute: Health and Life Sciences (Intute)• EcoLearnIT LOM EcoLearnIT LOM

processprocess

• review & analysis of existing APs review & analysis of existing APs ((March’08March’08))

• mappings to mappings to relevant relevant standards/schemas (standards/schemas (April’08April’08))

• comparative study (comparative study (May’08May’08))• initial report with list of initial report with list of

suggestions/recommendations to AP suggestions/recommendations to AP developersdevelopers (June ‘08) (June ‘08)

output output

• technical report technical report – ““Guidelines and recommendations for Guidelines and recommendations for

building metadata APs for agricultural building metadata APs for agricultural learning resources”learning resources”

– final version 1.0 to be published in October final version 1.0 to be published in October 20082008

main resultsmain results

documentation documentation

• six (6) with documentation that six (6) with documentation that described/specified the APdescribed/specified the AP– in one (1) case, there was limited documentationin one (1) case, there was limited documentation– in two (2) cases, there was no documentationin two (2) cases, there was no documentation

• for the documented APsfor the documented APs– all, a description or specification of their conceptual all, a description or specification of their conceptual

modelmodel– only two (2), technical binding (in XML)only two (2), technical binding (in XML)– three (3), claim technical conformance to base three (3), claim technical conformance to base

schema schema • 1 to Dublin Core (DC)1 to Dublin Core (DC)• 2 to IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM)2 to IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM)

number of elements number of elements

• five (5) of APs, considered elements five (5) of APs, considered elements – either all LOM ones either all LOM ones – or the majority of them (>65 out of 77 ones)or the majority of them (>65 out of 77 ones)

• two (2) APs, fewer elementstwo (2) APs, fewer elements– one 22, the other 35one 22, the other 35

• numbers are indicative: numbers are indicative: mandatedmandated use of use of elements not related to overall numberelements not related to overall number– three (3) APs require >30 mandatory elementsthree (3) APs require >30 mandatory elements– one (1) AP requires >15 mandatory elementsone (1) AP requires >15 mandatory elements– two (2) APs require <10 mandatory elementstwo (2) APs require <10 mandatory elements

usage of elements usage of elements (1/6)(1/6)

• most APs using identifiermost APs using identifier– in some cases, only URLin some cases, only URL– in other cases, formal catalog systemin other cases, formal catalog system

• other other generalgeneral elements mostly elements mostly occurring:occurring:– TitleTitle– LanguageLanguage– DescriptionDescription– Keyword (free text or restricted)Keyword (free text or restricted)– Coverage (geographical/spatial or Coverage (geographical/spatial or

temporal)temporal)

usage of elements usage of elements (2/6)(2/6)

• life cyclelife cycle elements mostly occurring: elements mostly occurring:– role of the entities that have contributed to role of the entities that have contributed to

the resourcethe resource– information about these entitiesinformation about these entities– date of contribution/production/publicationdate of contribution/production/publication

usage of elements usage of elements (3/6)(3/6)

• technicaltechnical elements mostly occurring: elements mostly occurring:– Technical formatTechnical format– Technical location Technical location

• such as URL, when Identifier element not used such as URL, when Identifier element not used for this purposefor this purpose

– SizeSize– Some technical requirements for Some technical requirements for

viewing/executionviewing/execution

usage of elements usage of elements (4/6)(4/6)

• educationaleducational elements mostly occurring: elements mostly occurring:– Type of the learning resourceType of the learning resource– Intended end user roleIntended end user role– Educational context/levelEducational context/level

usage of elements usage of elements (5/6)(5/6)

• copyrightcopyright elements usually stored: elements usually stored:– CostCost– Copyrights and restrictions in useCopyrights and restrictions in use

usage of elements usage of elements (6/6)(6/6)

• forfor formal classification purposes formal classification purposes the the following elements usually stored:following elements usually stored:– Purpose of classificationPurpose of classification– The classification system usedThe classification system used– Terms used from the selected classification Terms used from the selected classification

systemsystem

conclusionsconclusions

suggestions to developerssuggestions to developers (1/2) (1/2)

1.1. provide supportive documentation, provide supportive documentation, withwith

– supportive use cases that help clarify supportive use cases that help clarify scope, purpose, usersscope, purpose, users

– reference to technical implementationreference to technical implementation– relevant technical bindingsrelevant technical bindings

2.2. provide latest and more stable version provide latest and more stable version of base schemaof base schema

3.3. ad hoc or extended value spaces for ad hoc or extended value spaces for elementselements

– make new value spaces available in make new value spaces available in public namespacepublic namespace

suggestions to developerssuggestions to developers (2/2) (2/2)

4.4. respect non-allowed modification rulesrespect non-allowed modification rules– breaking can lead to problems breaking can lead to problems – e.g. when trying to export/exchange metadatae.g. when trying to export/exchange metadata

5.5. elements often occurring as mandatory in elements often occurring as mandatory in APs APs

– considered for use in other Apsconsidered for use in other Aps– facilitate information exchange & interoperabilityfacilitate information exchange & interoperability

conclusionconclusion

• studying existing metadata APs reveals studying existing metadata APs reveals common issues and problemscommon issues and problems

• aim aim – taking advantage of previous worktaking advantage of previous work– avoid already made problemsavoid already made problems– replicate good practicesreplicate good practices

next stepsnext steps

• towards a meta-model of agricultural towards a meta-model of agricultural learning resource metadata APslearning resource metadata APs– suggested elementssuggested elements– widely used vocabularies/thesauriwidely used vocabularies/thesauri– used mappingsused mappings

• harvesting metadata from existing harvesting metadata from existing repositoriesrepositories– study existing protocols (e.g. OAI/PMH)study existing protocols (e.g. OAI/PMH)– develop a good practice guidedevelop a good practice guide

for more info:for more info:

Dr. Nikos ManouselisDr. Nikos ManouselisGreek Research & Technology NetworkGreek Research & Technology Network

& Informatics Lab, Agricultural University of Athens& Informatics Lab, Agricultural University of Athensnikosm@ieee.org

see also:see also:Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force

(AgLR-TF, (AgLR-TF, http://aglr.aua.gr))