News from 2007

DC-2007 in Singapore was attended by 190 participants from 33 countries. As usual, the program contained a mix between research and implementation issues, while many of the DCMI Communities and Task Groups met in breakout sessions. The closing presentation is now available on-line, as well as the online version of the DC-2007 proceedings.

DC-2007 is now only one week away. The day before the conference, Monday 27 August 2007 is Tutorial Day while the conference and workshop will run from Tuesday 28 August through Thursday 30 August followed by a day on Friday 31 August with two seminars. Online registration is now closed, but you can register on site at the National Library on Sunday 26 August from 14:00 to 18:00, and from Monday 27 August from 08:00 at the conference venue, the InterContinental Singapore, on level 2. Please check out the conference Web site for the latest news. We are looking forward to meeting many of you in Singapore!

Public Comment is now closed for the editorial revisions to existing DCMI terms and for a proposed set of classes for use as domains and ranges of DCMI properties. The proposals will now be discussed by the DCMI Usage Board in their meeting in Singapore on 25 and 26 August 2007.

Following the changes in work structure that have taken place since DC-2006, the DCMI Directorate, in consultation with the DCMI Usage Board and DCMI Advisory Board, has revised the approval processes for DCMI documents. As of August 2007, the new procedure described in the DCMI Process Document Procedure for approval of proposals by DCMI is in effect. Please also note the Proposal Submission Form that can be used for submission of proposals.

DCMI has commissioned two work items that are related to the development of Application Profiles. The first is a specification of a DCMI Description Set Profile as part of a more formal DCMI Application Profile Model, drafted by Mikael Nilsson. Following from that work, Fredrik Enoksson is designing a Wiki format for Dublin Core™ Application Profiles which both renders the profile readably in HTML and is structured in such a way that it can be automatically converted by a script into an XML format. The work also includes designing and building a tool for transforming an Application Profile in the Wiki format into an XML representation of the profile. Results of this work are foreseen to be demonstrated at a plenary Architecture session at DC-2007 on Tuesday 28 August 2007.

As part of a program to evaluate the Web site and documentation published by DCMI, a survey has been developed asking a broad range of users for their feedback on DCMI's Web presence. Results will be anonymous, but in hopes that some responders will be willing to provide additional feedback, a place for names and e-mail addresses is included to allow more in depth interviews as well. Members of the DCMI community are encouraged to distribute the questionnaire announcement to those who might be interested in assisting in this Web site review. If distribution is made to mailing lists, please copy Diane Hillmann on the distribution e-mail so that the review team can track how broadly the questionnaire has been seen. The questionnaire will be available through 5 September 2007 only, so please don't delay in your responses. Go to the survey....

Makx Dekkers, DCMI Managing Director, has published a new status report of the Dublin Core™ Metadata Initiative, covering the period March 2007 to August 2007. Read the report...

The preparations for DC-2007, to be held in Singapore from 27 through 31 August 2007 are now drawing to a close. The final program for the conference now contains links to presentation slides and workshop session agendas. Online registration closes on 18 August 2007. On-site registration will be available on Sunday 26 August at the National Library from 14:00 to 18:00, and from Monday 27 August at the conference venue, the InterContinental Singapore, on level 2 from 08:00. Please note that only cash payment in Singapore dollars will be accepted for on-site registration. Also note that hotel reservations will be available through the conference Web site until 10 August. The hotels will not hold any rooms for conference attendees after this date so please book as soon as possible if you still need accommodation.

Following a public comment period earlier this year, a revised DCMI Namespace Policy has been published. The revision documents the creation of a new namespace for entities of the DCMI Abstract Model and updates the terminology used.

Public Comment is being held from 2 through 30 July on a set of editorial revisions to existing DCMI terms and on a proposed set of classes for use as domains and ranges of DCMI properties. Domains and ranges reinforce the natural-language definition of a property with explicit statements that support inferences about the type of resource being described. Interested members of the public are invited to post comments to the DC-ARCHITECTURE mailing list, including "[Public Comment]" in the subject line. After Public Comment, the proposal will be submitted to the DCMI Usage Board for finalization.