The Content Programme 2011-13’s call for proposals strongly advocated that projects should take account of the Discovery Task Force’s Open Metadata Principles. The programme commissioned a report to evaluate to what extent projects were able to implement these principles in the context of specific strands of programme work: creating OERs with digitised materials, mass digitisation and aggregation of existing resources.
The opening section of the report covers the technical evaluation, followed by explorations of licensing, metadata, discoverability for machines, amplification through distribution and through user contribution, marketing and dissemination and finally service. It also contains some detailed case studies in section 6, whilst section 7 examines: What works? Balancing theory, practice and reality.
Finally it proposes some mission critical opportunities for making content activities successful in terms of discovery:
- Establishing and publishing clear terms and conditions of use for all aspects of a digitised collection, including any descriptive metadata
- Implementing persistent, resolvable, identifiers at every level you wish to make the resource addressable
- Following good practice relating to search engine optimisation
- Developing a sustainability plan that can be executed by a core team
