VÖ 40: Metadata in Preservation

Foreword

In September 2003 ERPANET held a training seminar on “Metadata in Digital Preservation” at the Archivschule Marburg. Over sixty participants from twenty countries travelled to Marburg to discuss possible structures and content of metadata for the preservation of digital objects.

In his introduction, Hans Hofman has outlined the framework that this event took place within. He has made a definition of what metadata are, and he mapped the boundaries that the speakers were given for their papers.

This volume represents the majority of the talks given during the event. Wendy Duff, Steve Knight, Malcolm Todd, Palle Aagaard, Michael Day, Andrew Wilson, Thomas Severiens and Lars-Erik Hanson have provided here extended versions of their presentations. The papers have also benefited from discussions that took place at the seminar upon which the authors have been able to reflect and respond to.

Throughout the course of the seminar allusions to new research on the development of metadata and their use in electronic systems were made. We are delighted that some of these are introduced in this volume. Andrea Hänger, the Munich working group of Karl-Ernst Lupprian, Rodrigo Readi and Lothar Saupe, and Barbara Hoen discuss in their contributions practical projects that are developing metadata schemes.

Finally, James Turner has explained the genesis and results of his metamap, which gives an overview on metadata standards, sets and initiatives in the form of a subway map.

In the interest of a broad, international reception the contributions are published in English. However, all the abstracts are translated into German.

The short biographies at the end of this book serve as a narrow, topic-oriented introduction to the activities of the authors. Also supplied are addresses to facilitate immediate communication with the authors.

Both the seminar and this publication have been brought to fruition through the active cooperation of many people. Special thanks are due to Christa Kieselbach, Archivschule Marburg, for the organization of the seminar in Marburg, and Andreas Aschenbrenner, ERPANET, for his cooperation in translating the abstracts and preparing the authors’ biographies.
 
Frank M. Bischoff
Hans Hofman
Seamus Ross