Structuring the information on the Internet: the Dublin...

Structuring the information on the Internet: the Dublin Core metadata, RDF and the Semantic Web
course leaders: Benoit Thirion & Ioana Robu

Aim:
To provide a theoretical and practical approach of the relatively new tools designed for structuring the information on the Internet.

Objectives:
at the end of the course the participants will:

be acquainted with the Dublin Core metadata standard, its structure and use
be aware of projects and web sites in the field of health sciences information that use DC metadata
be able to generate DC metadata manually or automatically
have an understanding of the importance and necessity of using DC for Acataloguing@ Internet resources
will learn about the representation of the metadata using RDF (Resource Description Framework), the advantages and limitations of RDF
will be aware of the Semantic Web development and the way it is intended to provide and automatic management of information existing on the web
though RDF and Semantic Web are Atechnological@ tools, to be developed and handled by specialized professionals, they are nevertheless standards / projects meant to manage information, therefore librarians (i.e. participants) will become be aware of their role and how to provide the logical frame for cataloguing and classification to be further incorporated and handled automatically

Description:
The course is partially a repeat of a course held in Cologne in 2002, especially the first part, regarding the Dublin Core metadata, which provides the definition and the historical background of the DC initiative, presents the DC elements and elements refinement, with examples, then explores the tools for the generation of DC, with practical demonstrations, and finally discusses the importance and utility of this standard. The second part of the course presents RDF, its mechanisms of structuring Internet information, with practical examples, then explores and discusses the Semantic Web concept. Special emphasis is placed on the role of librarians in the Semantic Web projects development teams and the ways they may contribute to the progress of in a domain that belongs to the field of artificial intelligence.

Targeted audience:
Librarians involved in web page development and web site management, but not only, everyone interested in the technological progress regarding information management is welcome.