Eun G. Park

Running ahead toward interoperable e-government: The government of Canada metadata framework

The Government of Canada (GoC) has implemented several standardization initiatives toward establishing e-government in order to systematize the capture, description, organization and dissemination of data and information. This study examines the GoCs metadata strategy through the adoption of a Dublin Core (DC)-based metadata scheme toward establishing one unified metadata framework. The study examines the credibility of DC in relation to interoperability, application profiles, and controlled vocabularies and further provides a discussion on the current problems associated with metadata and possible improvements across government agencies in the GoC.

Metadata assessment in e‐theses and dissertations of Canadian institutional repositories

Purpose – The aim of this study is to assess the metadata element sets of electronic theses and dissertations that are currently used at Canadian academic institutional repositories, and to discuss issues related to variations and inconsistencies in Dublin Core data used by participating repositories.Design/methodology/approach – The formats and usage patterns of metadata elements at ten participating institutional repositories are identified and analyzed. Additionally, metadata element variations are grouped by different types.Findings – Current metadata elements have a significant level of inconsistency and variation.Research limitations/implications – The observations drawn from this study are limited to Canadian cases only. However, the results provide insights into developing a metadata framework for institutional repositories in other countries.Originality/value – This study examines empirical data collected from data providers among Canadian institutional repositories. The result of this study may ...

Electronic thesis initiative: pilot project of McGill University, Montreal

Purpose – To set up a protocol for electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) submission for the electronic thesis initiative pilot project at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.Design/methodology/approach – An electronic thesis and dissertation submission protocol was implemented and tested. To test authoring tools, we had 50 students submit their theses or dissertations using one of four style sheets. Word‐processed files were converted to PDF and XML formats. The pilot project team evaluated DigiTools effectiveness in digital conversion, capture of metadata and cataloguing, digital content harvesting, digital preservation, and integration with the student information system.Findings – All theses experienced some degree of information loss during the conversion. DigiTool is still being tested for storage, cataloguing, and dissemination capability. For full implementation, three major issues need to be addressed further: conversion; metadata; and file formats.Practical implications – Most of the issues...

Social uses of digitisation within the context of HIV/AIDS: metadata as engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the social uses of digitisation within the social context of HIV/AIDS by building digital archives of photographs.Design/methodology/approach – Visual data sets on HIV/AIDS are drawn from photovoice studies in our previous work in Canada and South Africa. To organise and describe visual data sets, protocols for scanning and metadata have been developed.Findings – Based on these protocols, a digital archive is being built to store and provide access to digital images.Research limitations/implications – The study intends to develop a methodological and technological framework to understand the social uses of photography by using digital technology.Originality/value – The observations and lessons garnered from this study provide insights into the building of a digital archive of photo collections on HIV/AIDS and can be used in other social contexts where photos are developed and managed in order to address social issues.

Canadian government agencies develop e-mail management policies

As e-mail has become a widely used communication tool by the Government of Canada (GoC), this article examines current e-mail management policies and system implementation in Canadian government agencies. GoC implemented the Records, Document, and Information Management System (RDIMS) as an integrated system tool for efficient document and records management. RDIMS provides the capability to create, manage, and access information and documents, regardless of ministerial, departmental, or geographic location. GoC presents legal guidance on e-mail management, based on the Access to Information Act, Privacy Act, and Library and Archives of Canada Act. Developing an e-mail management policy promotes an effective capture, management, and retention of e-mail messages.

Building interoperable Canadian architecture collections: initial metadata assessment

– The purpose of this research is to assess the current descriptions of architecture collections housed at the McGill University Library in preparation for building an interoperable metadata and search interface for Canadian architecture collections., – The names and frequencies of tables and fields of 11 architecture databases were analyzed and summarized into the most commonly used groups. In addition, typologies of buildings by purpose of construction were presented as subject headings., – Current metadata schemes are diverse and heterogeneous across the 11 databases., – This study is at the pilot stage and is limited to Canadian architecture collections at McGill University. The observations provide insights into metadata normalization that can be used as a basis for building architecture collections or image collections., – This is the first metadata assessment of architecture collections for the purpose of building a single uniform access.

Korean electronic site license initiative : archiving of electronic journals

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present a progress report on the building of a digital archive of electronic journals by the Korean Electronic Site License Initiative (KESLI) of the National Digital Science Library in Korea.Design/methodology/approach – The research involves identifying a system architecture, testing its prototype, deciding journal selection criteria and priority publisher selection criteria, and defining metadata sets.Findings – The paper finds that production system and archiving system models are being implemented and tested. Implementation of the delivery system module is in progress. Preservation strategies will be identified.Practical implications – The KESLI electronic journal digital archive project is proceeding toward completion of its tasks by the end of 2007.Originality/value – The observations and lessons in the paper provide insights into building a digital archive of electronic journals that can be used as a basis for building similar digital archives in other coun...

Giving Life to Data: University-Community Partnerships in Addressing HIV and AIDS through Building Digital Archives.

The partnerships, especially university–community partnerships, that sustain globally networked learning environments often face challenges in mobilizing research to empower local communities to effect change. This article examines these challenges by describing a university–community partnership involving researchers and graduate students in Canada and South Africa, working with a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in order to develop a participatory digital archive of more than 3000 photographs and videos collected from various visual methodology research projects related to HIV and AIDS education. The main purpose of the digital archive was to place community members as active participants at the centre of data analysis, as opposed to recipients of findings, and to give voice to teachers, learners, health-care workers and parents in identifying the key issues and challenges affecting their lives in the context of HIV/AIDS and their impact on their communities. The article outlines the technical and conceptual issues in developing the partnership as well as the digital archive, such as developing a scanning protocol, producing a metadata schema, choosing the digital archive software and, most importantly, involving community members, in particular teachers, in the processes of coding the visual data and using the archive for HIV and AIDS education and community change.

Modelling ancient Chinese time ontology

Temporal information is one of the essential components in many domains, especially those related to history. Up until the twentieth century, the Chinese used a lunisolar calendar with the title of an Emperor and a reign period to express temporal information. When describing a historical event in Chinese history, it is inadequate to use existing time ontologies as presented in the traditional Chinese way of thinking to capture and encode time. To date, no attention in the field has been given to modelling ancient Chinese time. In this paper, we identify the problems encountered when modelling Chinese time resulting from the distinctive nature of a non-western time scale. We design a new model of temporal information with combined approaches, which are more appropriate for Chinese dynasties, emperors, and reign periods, and apply the OWL-Time ontology onto the ancient Chinese lunisolar calendar. This approach can also be applied to other ancient time-keeping methods in non-western time scales.

Trust, ICT and income: their relationships and implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship and interactions among trust, information and communication technologies (ICT) and country income levels. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the standardization method by Osberg and Sharpe (2005) and analyzes the changes in global trends, coefficient of variations, and correlations. The statistical data consist of panel data for 28 countries from 2007 to 2014. Findings Trust in people (TP) and institutional confidence (IC) have different shapes of movement over the period and the change speed of IC has decreased much faster than that of TP. While TP in high income countries is positioned in relatively high ranks, IC of middle income countries tends to be ranked in higher ranks. While the telecommunication infrastructure index (TII) has continuously increased in all countries for the entire period, open service index (OSI) has not increased at the same rate since improving OSI is not easier than TII. As OSI increases, IC may affect an increase to a certain point and then decrease in an inverted U-shape. The result of this relationship emphasizes on the importance of OSI along with TII in building trust, particularly with institutions. Research limitations/implications The examination of the relationship of trust, ICT and income in quantifiable values can contribute to understanding the direction of movement and change speed toward trust building with people and institutions. Practical implications To promote levels of trust, countries should consider different strategies for growing TP and institutions and concentrate on improving ICT-mediated services more than installing ICT facilities. Originality/value Quantifying the interactions of a qualitative concept of trust with ICT facilities, online services, and income levels presents an in-depth analysis of TP and with institutions.