Difference between revisions of "Principles for Metadata Reform"

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Our metadata form, the form that is used to submit projects to the ARC nodes ([[MESA|MESA]], REKn, 18thConnect, NINES, and ModNets) was developed by NINES in 2005, and its specifications can be found at [[Submitting RDF|Submitting RDF]]. We are working on revising what we fondly call our ‘NINES RDF’, and what follows are some principles to which we are adhering as we do so.
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Our metadata form, the form that is used to submit projects to the ARC nodes ([[MESA|MESA]], REKn, [[18thConnect]], NINES, and ModNets) was developed by NINES in 2005, and its specifications can be found at [[Submitting RDF|Submitting RDF]]. We are working on revising what we fondly call our ‘NINES RDF’, and what follows are some principles to which we are adhering as we do so.
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1. The success of NINES and subsequent nodes (MESA, REKn, 18thConnect, and ModNets) has depended upon and will continue to depend upon '''the ''leanness'' of the metadata form'''. That is, if we require people to submit too much information, and if our forms are too complicated (coming closer and closer to library metadata such as Marc records or Mets), literary scholars and proprietors of research databases will not be able to submit their projects to us for peer review and inclusion in our search of peer-reviewed scholarly sites.  In that case, only libraries would be able to submit, and we would in fact just become a library search engine, albeit a more global one.  We decided at the inception of NINES in 2003 to keep the bar for submission as low as possible, technically speaking, while making peer review as rigorous as possible: we are scholars first, valuing the quality of the research over the technical prowess of its creators, and so we cannot create technological barriers to entry.  Moreover, too many required fields to fill in will make the form too complicated and ambiguous to be useful to us.  Practically, this means that we will only add required fields to our metadata form after extended discussion and with the approval of all ARC members.

Revision as of 16:59, 30 August 2012

Our metadata form, the form that is used to submit projects to the ARC nodes (MESA, REKn, 18thConnect, NINES, and ModNets) was developed by NINES in 2005, and its specifications can be found at Submitting RDF. We are working on revising what we fondly call our ‘NINES RDF’, and what follows are some principles to which we are adhering as we do so.

1. The success of NINES and subsequent nodes (MESA, REKn, 18thConnect, and ModNets) has depended upon and will continue to depend upon the leanness of the metadata form. That is, if we require people to submit too much information, and if our forms are too complicated (coming closer and closer to library metadata such as Marc records or Mets), literary scholars and proprietors of research databases will not be able to submit their projects to us for peer review and inclusion in our search of peer-reviewed scholarly sites. In that case, only libraries would be able to submit, and we would in fact just become a library search engine, albeit a more global one. We decided at the inception of NINES in 2003 to keep the bar for submission as low as possible, technically speaking, while making peer review as rigorous as possible: we are scholars first, valuing the quality of the research over the technical prowess of its creators, and so we cannot create technological barriers to entry. Moreover, too many required fields to fill in will make the form too complicated and ambiguous to be useful to us. Practically, this means that we will only add required fields to our metadata form after extended discussion and with the approval of all ARC members.