ECDL2000 - Panel 1

Joint Panel of thje projects COVAX, MASTER and MALVINE

Promoting projects

COVAX - Contemporary Cultural Virtual Archives in XML
MASTER - Manuscript Access through Standards for Electronic Records
MALVINE - Manuscripts and Letters vian Integrated Networks in Europe

Chairperson

Jutta Weber (MALVINE)

Panel members

Peter Robinson (MASTER)
Carlos Wert (COVAX)
Tone Merete Bruvik (MALVINE)
Hans-Jörg Lieder (MALVINE)
Herwig Zeiner (MALVINE)
...other participants from MASTER and COVAX to be announced...

Agenda

Kick-off with three short lectures about different ways of accessing cultural heritage information (approx. 20-30 min. for each lecture):

• The COVAX approach: COVAX is building a web service on 20th century culture by converting existing records into homogeneously-encoded document descriptions of archive, library and museum collections from content owners and developers in Austria, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom into a distributed XML store.
• The MASTER approach: Creation of a robust and flexible SGML/XML based standard for manuscript descriptions, implementing this as a web-based record validation and cataloguing system suitable for use by libraries and archives with limited IT resources.
• The MALVINE approach: Establishment of a Z39.50 and XML based network of modern manuscript information, development and maintenance of a MALVINE metadata format for manuscript descriptions and biographical information.

Main topics of the panel discussion

Kinds of data that are offered

• catalogue data
• biographical authority information
• digital images

Reasons for choosing a particular approach, goals to be achieved

• enhanced access to information
• enhanced communication between data provider
• enhanced communication between data providers and end users
• consideration of existing metadata standards
• establishing of specific metadata standards
• application of "neutral" communication protocolls (SGML, XML, RDF)

Methods/ tools to be developed

• MALVINE toolbox:
  • web configuration toolkit
  • data entry facility
  • data import facility
  • XML based data conversion facility.
• MASTER
  • [to be specified]
• COVAX
  • analysis of existing DTDs and proposals for a common information structure for all types of documents
  • conversion tools for converting selected existing records in current formats to the appropriate DTD
  • distributed XML repository of web-accessible Covax records on 20th century culture.

Targeted audiences

• data/content providers
• expert users (i.e. staff working on the material in the relevant organisations)
• public end users

Aspects of information brokerage

• rights management
• access control
• billing systems and structures

Strategies of exploitation

• how to transport a project into a running service
• required technical and semantic infrastructure
• cooperation needs:
• on a national level
• on a European level
• worldwide