Historical Information Systems Administered by the Korean Public Sector
Kim Doo Hyeon · The Review of Korean Studies · 2005
This article is purported for reviewing the present historical material databases funded by the Korean government and suggesting solutions for improving database services and providing researchers of Korean studies with more useful and convenient digital resources. In Korea, Historical Information Systems were funded by the Ministry of Information and Communication, and were carried out by twelve public institutions. These databases currently contain 6.53 million digital materials, which are all provided for free to information users all around the world as well as those in Korea. The database construction project for Korean historical materials covers overall Korean history to allow much easier and more convenient access to research materials than in the past. However, the current historical information system has many problems to be improved. Among them, the most urgent matter to be addressed is the enhancement of interoperability between databases. The practical method to increase interoperability is to have institutions make metadata that explicitly describe the content and format of their databases and share them with other institutions. A technological standard for a Metadata Registry was suggested to enhance interoperability between independent systems. Since the Metadata Registry is purported for information resources that belong to a certain knowledge field, it must be made and run by those with deep knowledge and expertise in the regarded field. In order to have the Historical Information Systems play the leading role in promoting the free communication of high quality information on traditional Korean culture in cyber space, facilitating mutual understanding of history and information technology is very important.