I thought I would post links to data from a big project we funded some time back to capture English historical place-names. The data drives the Historical Gazetteer of England’s Place-names where you can search for individual modern forms to find the historical name. We had previously provided an automated system for using the data […]
Category: Metadata
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Exporting metadata to portals
As an addition to its successful Freeze Frame digitisation project, JISC asked the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute to explore what was needed to export their collection of 20,000 digitised images to portals such as Europeana and Flickr, as well as to commerical image providers. The request led the Institute to a full-scale […]
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Making Metadata Fun
Some innovative projects have started introducing games to their digital resources in order to enhance their metadata The Galaxy Zoo astronomy site has just launch a new game which allows users to help suggest how galaxy collision and mergers took place. Google Image Labeller has been around for a few years; you are randomly paired […]
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Using maps to find digital stuff
The Archival Sounds Recordings website had recently introduced a new facility to allow users to explore their digitised sounds via maps. Instead of relying on browsing or searching via keyword, users can now click on the customised Google Map, which reveals sound recordings related to a particular place. This is particularly useful for collections that […]
There’s plenty of discussion about things like APIs (application programming interfaces) and concepts of opening up data, but to the non-initiated this can all seem rather confusing and overly technical. However, as those who have created digital projects continue to look for new ways to expose their content to the widest possible audience, APIs offer […]
Standards for digital content such as file formats or metadata aren’t sexy. But they are crucial – without them resource discovery is impeded, functionality is diminished and long-term access is imperilled. But implementing standards is not just a matter of a ‘Stalinist’ top-down mandate. Within in a project, service or an organisation standards impinge on […]
As part of its Digitisation Programme, the JISC appointed consultant Hervé L’Hours to assist the 16 projects in defining their metadata requirements. In particular, Hervé looked at issues relating to technical / preservation metadata and how these were being built into project workflows. The bulk of this work took place between June and November 2007. […]