Why a MetaMap?
MetaMap
With the exponential development of the World Wide Web, there are so many metadata initiatives, so many organisations involved, and so many new standards that it's hard to get our bearings in this new environment.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the names of most of these new standards are represented by acronyms. The MetaMap exists to help gather in one place information about these metadata initiatives, to try to show relationships among them, and to connect them with the various players involved in their creation and use.
The MetaMap takes the form of a subway map, using the metaphor of helping users navigate in "metaspace", the environment of metadata.
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Véronique Moal présente le MétroMéta 
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James Turner presents the MetaMap 
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History of the MetaMap project
The MetaMap project came about from the idea of representing "metaspace" as a subway map showing metadata standards related to information management. Work began by collecting information on existing standards, especially those to do with metadata.
The resulting list was then reorganised using themes grouping the various acronyms. As with all classification activity, it was obvious that there were many possible ways to group the acronyms.
Various approaches to metadata standards, sets, and initiatives (MSSIs) were considered, and eventually the following were retained: the processes of information management (creation, organisation, dissemination, preservation), the institutions with expertise in managing information (libraries, archives, museums), and the types of information files that are managed (text, still images, moving images, sound).
The theme lists were then organised into graphics representing subway lines. Each line represents one of the themes we retained, and each MSSI appears as a station on the line. Since a number of MSSIs are related to more than one theme, we try to represent these as nodes in the network. For example, FIAF (the International Federation of Film Archives) is an organisation concerned both with moving images and with archives.
We had thought to choose just one of the approaches (processes, institutions or types of information files) but after much struggle and many reworkings of the graphic, we realised that we could include all three approaches in the same map without making it too cluttered to use. We added a special line to emphasize the critical role in the development of MSSIs of organisations such as the W3C, IFLA, the IETF and the IEEE.
- the horizontal lines are used for the information processes
- the vertical lines are used for the institutions with expertise in information management
- the lines representing the types of information files that are managed are grouped together in one area of the map, and parts of them run in parallel to reflect elements they have in common
- the Organisations line runs through the centre of the map, in order to be able to link with as many lines as possible
Concerning the order of the stations on each line, we have tried to group MSSIs that have something in common. For example, the classification schemes (Dewey Decimal Classification, Universal Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification) appear side by side on the Organisation line.
In addition, MSSIs which belong on only one line but which have some relationship to other lines are placed near these lines, insofar as this is possible. Thus the part of the Organisation line containing MSSIs related to multimedia information file types is placed close to the lines for Text, Still Images, Moving Images, and Sound. The third organising principle is that nodes are created, insofar as possible, where an MSSI is clearly linked to two or more themes. For example, the Open Archival Information System is part of the Organisation, the Preservation, and the Archives lines.
- It is non-proprietary and reflects our desire to use a standard, in the spirit of the MetaMap
- Since SVG objects are text files, they can easily be edited, and this facilitates keeping the MetaMap up to date
- It is easy to construct versions in other languages, by editing the code
- SVG works in any computer platform
Support for the MetaMap project
GRIV
The MetaMap is sponsored by the Groupe départemental de recherche en information visuelle (= GRIV = Visual Information Research Group) at the École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information, Université de Montréal.
CoRIMedia (Consortium de recherche en image et multimédia)
The MetaMap project is financed by CoRIMedia, a research consortium focussed on the management of multimedia objects and on applications which use them.
The goal of the consortium is to "develop methodologies for managing multimedia databases, digital libraries, and the Internet using various formats and integrating in a collaborative manner the contents of multimedia formats".
The consortium thus hopes to make accessible on the Web the contents of image databases, sound recordings, and videos, at the same time facilitating the process of indexing these media.
The development team
The MetaMap was created by James Turner, professor at the École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information, Université de Montréal, and Véronique Moal, research assistant, who did the research and the legwork.