Canadian <Metadata> Forum

Defining a Metadata Strategy for online Cultural Content

Ron Wakkary
Chair, Standards, Research and Development Sub-Committee, Canadian Culture Online National Advisory Board

Available also in [PDF 513 KB]

Canadian Culture Online

Canadian Culture Online created in 2001

Canadian Culture Online Program within Canadian Heritage administers various funds and develops policies

CCOP 3 objectives:

1. To achieve a critical mass of quality cultural content on the Internet in both English and French.
2. To build a conducive environment for Canada's cultural industries, institutions, creators and communities to produce and make available Canadian cultural content on the Internet.
3. To increase visibility and build audiences for Canadian digital cultural content.

Canadian Culture Online Programs and Funds

• Canadian Memory Fund
• Partnership Fund
• Canada New Media Fund
• Francommunautés virutelles
• Canada-Telus New media Fund
• Culture.ca
• Aboriginal Canada Portal
• Virtual Museum of Canada
• Electronic Copyright Fund
• Applied Research in Interactive Media
• New Media Research Networks Fund

Canadian Culture Online
National Advisory Board - 1

• Senator Laurier LaPierre, Chair
• The Board mandate is to advise the Minister on:
  • the general direction and continued evolution of the Program in light of the evolution of the Internet;
  • the needs of users;
  • the development of partnerships and tools to facilitate the creation and use of content; and
  • the identification of priorities for investing in content.

Canadian Culture Online
National Advisory Board - 2

• Content and Innovation
• Gateway and Access
• Standards, Research and Development
  "advises the Board to ensure the application of appropriate standards so that the content developed can be used seamlessly, meaningfully and transparently, in a way compatible with work being done in other sectors, across the country and abroad".

Canadian Culture Online
National Advisory Board - 3

"If the Web is a vast library, metadata is the card catalogue… But metadata relates to more than just the Web. There are other kinds of metadata, and the Standards, Research and Development Sub-Committee looked at many of them. In fact, metadata can be used to describe just about any type of digital object."

Discover Canada  -  Canadian Culture Online,
p. 16

Canadian Culture Online
National Advisory Board - 4

www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pcce-ccop/pubs/discanada/index_e.cfm

Canadian Culture Online
National Advisory Board - 5

"The Board sees the following added benefits to employing standards in CCOP.

1. Standards will ensure that digital content produced through CCOP is accessible and will improve the quality of searches for Canadian content online.
2. Standards will diversify the uses of the content and therefore increase the return on investment.
3. Standards will increase the market for Canadian culture and increase Canada's competitiveness in the international market.
4. Standards will facilitate the fair trade and use of Canadian digital content and support electronic and physical economies."

Discover Canada  -  Canadian Culture Online
p. 17

Canadian Culture Online - 1

• What are the identifiable goals in developing a metadata policy for CCOP?
• Does any particular standard address all the metadata requirements of CCOP?
• If not, what should a metadata application profile look like?

Canadian Culture Online - 2

• At what level of granularity should metadata be applied for CCOP funded projects? In other words, how deep into a site should we be tagging?
• What are the cost implications of tagging digitized cultural content?
• What should we expect as measurable outcomes of this effort?
• What kind of tools exist to facilitate this activity? What kind of skills are required?
• What kind of support do fund recipients require in order to properly apply metadata?
• Is training necessary? Is online support to answer questions required?
• Etc…

Canadian Culture Online - 3

CCOP's 3rd Objective:

• "To increase visibility and build audiences for Canadian digital cultural content."

Canadian Culture Online - 4

Steps to CCOP'S Metadata Strategy:

Metadata Matrix Report

CCOP Metadata Application Profile

Guidelines for the implementation of CCOP MAP

Consultations with cultural stakeholders

Finalized Application Profile and Guidelines

Canadian Culture Online - 5

Next step: A clause in CCOP funding agreements addressing metadata

• recognizes the creation of metadata as an integral part of the process of building online content
• it makes explicitly clear that metadata is a deliverable requiring proper resources  -  budgetary and human resources - to carry out the task

Canadian Culture Online
Looking Ahead

• commission a study of existing tools and of functions that would be required in a tool for the creation of metadata
• look at support and training requirements for fund recipients
• develop methodologies to measure the impact of metadata creation for CCOP funded projects
• review and evaluate how successful fund recipients are in creating metadata according to the CCOP metadata application profile
• look into the creation of a repository for Canadian cultural objects

Thank you!

Ron Wakkary, Chair, Standards, Research and Development Sub-Committee Canadian Culture Online National Advisory Board