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Presented by Irene Onyancha Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO) of the United Nations

A Metadata Framework for Resource Discovery of Agricultural Resources EDCL 2001 OAI Workshop September 4-9, Darmstadt, Germany. Presented by Irene Onyancha Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO) of the United Nations Library & documentation Systems Division (GIL)

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Presented by Irene Onyancha Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO) of the United Nations

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  1. A Metadata Framework for Resource Discovery of Agricultural ResourcesEDCL 2001 OAI WorkshopSeptember 4-9, Darmstadt, Germany Presentedby Irene Onyancha Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO) of the United Nations Library & documentation Systems Division (GIL) AGRIS/CARIS & Documentation Group

  2. Overview • Objectives • Strategy and methodology adopted • Results • Implementation aspects compared to generic Dublin Core Metadata Initiative • Benefits to FAO, the Agricultural Community and the OAI • Future Developments

  3. Main Objective • To define an interoperability layer using emerging standards to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content of agricultural resource

  4. Specific goals:- • To define a low barrier interoperability layer to aid primary resource discovery • to define a richer interoperability layer to aid secondary and tertiary resource discovery • to describe the application in a machine readable format, XML and RDF • to define a common format to homogenising set results on a search interface that enables parallel searching of heterogeneous archives • to assist the management of resources by data owners

  5. Strategy and methodology adopted • Developed a conceptual map of different types of information resources used in agriculture • Evaluated standards and common resource description practices currently used in the domain of agriculture • Drafted a specification for a Dublin Core (DC) based standard for describing document resources • Gave preference to notation and vocabularies terms used in already established standards and and those used in describing agricultural resources

  6. Strategy and methodology adopted Contd.. • Focused on description of document resources but will proceed to define other types of resources such as projects, other multimedia resources such as photos, maps etc. • Identified a pool of core elements of which we used the DC guidelines to define respective qualifiers • Made a full description of each element and qualifier using the ISO standards for element description • Discussed the proposal on various agricultural forums both in-house and external, including at the Agstandards Mailing list. Agstandards@yahoogroups.com

  7. Results • Unqualified Dublin Core based metadata Set • QualifiedDublin Core based Metadata set • Sample of an output using the application profile on one of the FAO in-house Databases. The AGRIS Archive

  8. Implementation aspects compared to generic Dublin Core Metadata set • Merged the DC elements Creator, Contributor and Publisher to one main element which we named Creator • Dropped the element Source and elaborated the element Relation to include information of the source • Proposed a new core element, Target Audience • Proposed new qualifiers that are not represented in the generic DC guidelines • Proposed the use of Authority files for elements and qualifiers that have secondary information

  9. Benefits of the application profile to FAO, the Agricultural Community and the OAI • Low-barrier interoperability layer that enables harvesting of metadata through the OAI and sharing and exchange of information in the Agricultural Community • Format for describing and maintaining FAO in-house Information Systems • Format for uniform presentation of meta information on the AGRIS Internet Portal • Format to for the AGRIS (Agricultural Information System). This willpromote information exchange and self-reliance of data management by data owners especially in the developing countries • Format for a common interface for retrieval of resources from heterogeneous archives: The AGRIS MHS

  10. Future Developments • Encode and publish the application profile both in XML Document Type Definition (DTD) and RDF • Develop software tools in support of the proposed AG standards (Agricultural Standards) • Develop guidelines for the application profile to assist implementers and users • Project to be presented for further discussion at the International DC-2001 Conference to be held in Tokyo, Japan on October 22-26, 2001

  11. Future Developments Contd.. • Workshop with FAO Partners and collaborative Governments to discuss the proposed AG standards • Monitor the impact of the proposed standard in the agricultural community • Register the metadata framework with the DCMI Metadata registry • Initiate a pilot project between FAO and Agricultural Subject gateways to provide a single access point for agricultural resources

  12. For more Information........... • Metadata Framework for Resource Discovery of Agricultural Information: An introduction" • http://www.fao.org/agris/MagazineArchive/MetaData/Introduction.doc • Presentation of a metadata set for the description of agricultural documents and document-like resources • it provides the elements and qualifiers of the proposed standard, presented in a hierarchical structure. • http://www.fao.org/agris/MagazineArchive/MetaData/PresentationSet.doc • Element Description for Agricultural Information Resources • it provides a more detailed description of all the elements and qualifiers, including information on definitions, rules, and data typing. • http://www.fao.org/agris/MagazineArchive/MetaData/ElementFinal.doc

  13. Acknowledgement I wish to acknowledge my colleagues and team members namely; Fynvola LeHunt Ward, Frehiwot Fisseha, Kafkas Caprazli, Johannes Keizer and Steve Katz who brought various expertise to the metadata working group.

  14. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

  15. Full element description • More detailed description of each element using a set of 10 attributes recommended by DCMI which conform to the ISO/IEC 11179 standards. • Eight attributes were proposed; Name, Label, Definition, Comments, Language, Datatype and Obligation • Other two, Version and Registration Authority were applied globally

  16. Information Resources at FAO Departmental Databases WEB Resources Http://www.fao.org AGRIS Information System FAO Outreach Centres EMPRES FAO Catalogue GIEWS INPHO AGRIS Input Centres CARIS FAOSTAT AGRIS Centre at FAO HQ FAO Full Text Document Repository Media Base

  17. Challenges Distributed databases Heterogeneous databases with different data structure and metadata information Minimum interoperability Vision Develop a focal point of access for agricultural information. This has been achieved by the AGRIS Internet Portal Present meta information in a common format enable ease access of agricultural information Information Resources at FAO....Contd..

  18. AGRIS Internet Portal AGRIS Internet Portal Agricultural Subject Gateways AGRIGATE AGNIC BIOME NOVAGATE WEB Resources Http://www.fao.org Departmental Databases EMPRES FAO Catalogue GIEWS INPHO AGRIS Input Centres CARIS AGRIS Centre at FAO HQ FAOSTAT FAO Full Text Document Repository AGRIS Multi-host Server Media Base AGRIS Information System

  19. AGRIS Internet Portal Contd. • Specialised information gateway maintained by FAO that provides a one stop access to relevant information on agriculture • Address information sharing, knowledge exchange and collaboration needs of Partners in Agricultural Community and and others such as the OAI • Host to the AGRIS Information System. This is network of islands of Agricultural Information • Host to other Agricultural Subject Gateways • Hosts the AGRIS Multi-host Server

  20. Agricultural Information System (AGRIS) • Co-operative information system of participating members mainly in Developing countries • Consists of references of literature produced within member country boundaries • Information processed and Maintained at FAO • Member countries to manage own resources • Ability to exchange information with other partners over the AGRIS Internet portal AGRIS Input Centres distributed all the world AGRIS Centre at FAO HQ

  21. AGRIS Multi-Host Server • Location: Http://cfs.zadi.de/ • Search Engine that allows parallel searching across distributed bibliographical archives giving a one stop access to them without the need of centralising data • Developed in co-operation with ZADI (Zentralstelle für Agrardokumentation) in Germany • The archives are heterogeneous and have different data structure and metadata information • Develop common meta elements to homogenise search set results

  22. AG standards Application Profile The AGRIS MHS System Client Request Search Result Information Systems at FAO AGRIS-Server Requests Search Results Distributed Databases

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