OAI-ORE Open Meeting, April 4 2008, Johns Hopkins University
Open Archives Initiative Announces U.K. Public Meeting on April 4, 2008 for European Release of Object Reuse and Exchange Specifications
Ithaca, NY and Los Alamos, NM, January 21, 2008 - As a result of initiatives in eScholarship, the format of scholarly communication, and the process that underlies it, are becoming increasingly expressive and complex. The resulting new artifacts of scholarship are aggregations composed of multiple media types, links to data, and to applications that allow interaction with that data. The success of these innovations depends on standard methods to identify, describe, and exchange these new forms scholarly communication.
On April 4, 2008 the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) will hold a public meeting in Southampton, England, in connection with Open Repositories 2008, to introduce the Object Reuse and Exchange (ORE) specifications, which propose such standards. This meeting is the European follow-on to a U.S.-based meeting on March 3 at Johns Hopkins University.
The OAI-ORE specifications define a data model to represent aggregations as resources on the web, identified with a URI like any resource. They also define a machine-readable format in ATOM to describe these aggregations. The specifications provide a foundation for new forms of citation, reuse, and analysis of the products and process of scholarship.
In addition to eScholarship applications, ORE specifications are useful for the aggregations that are part of our everyday interaction with the web. These include multi-page HTML documents, collections of multi-format images on sites like flickr. ORE descriptions of aggregations can be used to improve search engine behavior, provide input for browser-based navigation tools, and make it possible to develop automated web services to analyze and preserve information.
Attendees of the April 4 meeting will learn about the ORE data model, which is based on techniques developed in the Semantic Web initiative. They will also learn about the translation of this data model to the XML-based ATOM syndication format, allowing exchange of ORE- based descriptions via standardized feed software. Finally, they will hear the results of initial experiments with the specifications by ORE community members. There will be ample time for discussion and questions. Detailed information and registration information for the meeting is http://regonline.com/eu-oai-ore (NOTE: attendees must register in advance and attendance is limited).
About the Open Archives Initiative: The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination, sharing, and reuse of web-based content. OAI-ORE work is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, the JISC, and the National Science Foundation (IIS-0430906). More information is available at http://www.openarchives.org.
