Special Session: The Computer and Information Architectures of Metadata
Convenor: Carol Hert
Speakers:
   Computer architecture of metadata: Anca Mosoiu,
   Information architecture of metadata: Brett Lider
   FRBR and metadata: Jian Qin

The concept of "architecture of metadata" addresses the twin perspectives of information systems design and of information services provision. It could conceivably be of great interest, for instance, to those who have implemented a metadata application profile, and are currently in the throes of usability testing, and are finding that their nice, neat metadata scheme is being confronted with all sorts of wonky search strategies that they never anticipated. A technical architecture is of no use if it's clearly at odds with the way end users think and use information. An information architecture is meaningless without a clear and productive manifestation in the enabling technology. “Metadata,” as a concept and as a system, needs to be rooted in “architecture” in both meanings of the term.

This session will discuss what the computer and information architectures are for metadata and whether the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) is applicable as a model for integrating the computer and information architectures for metadata. The session will have three speakers who will make a 10 minute presentation each as an introduction to the concepts of computer architecture, information architecture, and FRBR model for metadata. Speakers will raise two or three critical issues in each of these areas and invite session participants to discuss their implications and research agenda in relation to metadata. We will be looking into these topics in particular among other things:

• Creating a computer architecture representation of metadata that supports a practical use
• Development of a simple data model that could map to an information architecture
• Scalability challenges for metadata services when a large body of data and metadata is needed
• How the concept of metadata can be described to a corporate culture to make it understood - organizational adoption issues
• Competing agendas and the need to create a metadata schema that works most of the time for most of the people
• How to take this information arch and express it as a web-based information system - give it a very practical and concrete application
• Feasibility and applicability of FRBR model to metadata architecture