The EOR Toolkit: An Open Source Solution for RDF Metadata
Harry Wagner · Information Technology and Libraries · 2002
Despite its unprecedented growth in popularity, the Web has failed to live up to expectations regarding its usefulness as a research tool. Technology has not kept pace with the growing number of Web sites. Libraries, the recognized experts in research and information management, have been unable to take an active lead in solving this problem. A solution is proposed, using the Resource Description Framework (RDF), an evolving metadata standard, in a collaborative open source environment that will enable libraries to take a more active role in the development of applications and services focused on improving the discovery and management of electronic resources. ********** In little more than a decade, the Web has become the research tool of choice for many, if not most, library patrons. The amount of information available on the Web, and the ease and speed with which it can be published and made available, offers enormous potential. It also presents a serious challenge for libraries with regards to the discovery, reliability, relevance, and accuracy of search results. Libraries need technical solutions to balance the enormous, but flawed, potential of the Web with the dependable service their patrons have come to expect. Although libraries have long been recognized as experts in research and cataloging, the rapid pace at which information technology (IT) is changing and the limited IT budgets of most libraries have prevented them from taking a lead role in the evolution of the Web. It is increasingly difficult for libraries to become, and remain, knowledgeable of existing and emerging ITs. This is especially true for libraries with limited or no technical staff. The discovery and information management of the growing volume of Web sites and other electronic resources is a task that will require the skills of professional librarians. Libraries need solutions that will enable them to take a more active role in the development of applications and services focused on the discovery and information management of Internet resources. This paper presents a collaborative approach to solving these problems that relies on open standards and open source software (OSS). The library community has a long history of collaboration with, and a well-known respect for, open standards. These can be leveraged within the open source community. By pooling ideas, functional requirements, and technical skills, libraries can use their expertise to shape the Web in a way that makes it more reliable, and that benefits the library community as a whole. This article will introduce RDF and describe how it is being used to solve many of the problems associated with Web search engines. RDF is an open standard metadata recommendation for the Web. It provides a framework for describing resources using machine-understandable semantics that enable the automated discovery, management, and exchange of metadata. The Extensible Open RDF (EOR) Toolkit will be presented as an example of the type of OSS that is being used to create applications focused on the discovery, navigation, and management of RDF metadata. EOR is an open source project and is built entirely upon open standards. An overview of the open source distributions used to develop EOR will also be presented. RDF The Semantic Web Activity is a project underway at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Its goal is to bring meaning, structure, and organization to the Web in a way that enables the automated discovery, understanding, and exchange of Web pages and other Internet resources. (1) RDF is a metadata recommendation of the W3C and one of the key technologies in the Semantic Web Activity project. (2) It is an open standard XML application (though not limited to XML) and provides a framework that enables a number of important improvements in the information management of Web sites and other electronic resources. …