By Stephen Downes
August 15, 2003
METS: An Overview & Tutorial
This
is a very interesting specification. The Metadata Encoding
and Transmission Standard (METS) is intended to describe
the structural properties of digital resources. Why is this
necessary? "While a library may record descriptive metadata
regarding a book in its collection, the book will not
dissolve into a series of unconnected pages if the library
fails to record structural metadata regarding the book's
organization, nor will scholars be unable to evaluate the
book's worth if the library fails to note that the book was
produced using a Ryobi offset press. The same cannot be
said for a digital version of the same book." The
initiative has evolved into a wider set of standards, and
the body just recently announced a streamlined digital
rights metadata specification. According to the METS News "The METS Editorial Board sees
the need for a simple Rights schema that the
METS community could use while the more comprehensive
Rights Expression Language (REL) schemas such as XrML,
ODRL, the IEEE LTSC-DRELWorking Group, and others are being
developed, and debated." The schema has been published but I don't see any
documentation yet, though there are some sample instances available. By Unknown,
METS, Undated
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
3 F's, They're Out: Edison Sees
Shake-up
The problems continue at Edison
Schools, the private company hired to manage public schools
in Philadelphia and other American cities. It turns out
that you can't just hire anybody off the street: you need
quality teachers. Who knew? Not Edison, apparently. "'We've
never been able to attract teachers,' said Shawn DeNight, a
longtime Edison stalwart. 'We always just took whoever
showed up.' But after the state gave Edison its third
consecutive F grade this summer, district officials made
the drastic move of forcing out nearly a third of the
school's faculty." By Metthew I. Pinzur, Miami Herald,
August 15, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Search Engines: Weblog Search
Engines
Short article that reviews major blog
search engines. Though the author lists some major sites,
such as DayPop, Blogdex and Feedster,
some major indices are overlooked, including Blogstreet, Memufacture, PopDex, Bloglines
and Technorati. Some minor indices listed in
the article include Detold Blawg Search, Eatonweb
PortalEatonweb Portal, and Globe of
Blogs. SchoolBlogs is an important site for
educational blogs, as are the Educational Bloggers Network and Edublog
News. And of course I would be remiss if I left my own
Edu-RSS off this list. By Phil Bradley,
Ariadne, August, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Google Ads a Threat to eBay
Trademark?
I don't know where ebay would be if
it couldn't use the brand names of other companies on its
site, but the same logic doesn't appear to have occurred to
its lawyers as it demands that Google cease allowing
advertisers to use the eBay name in their ads. And the
copyright silliness continues. By Stefanie Olsen, CNet
News.com, August 8, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
SCO Attorney Declares GPL
Invalid
I can't see how a judge would favour the
SCO interpretation, as it would be a major change to
declare the concept of free software contrary to law. But
that seems to be what SCO is urging, as their lawyers argue
that GPL violates U.S. copyright law by allowing more than
one copy to be copied, and is therefore invalid. By
michael, Slashdot, August 14, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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