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A Hybrid Declarative/Procedural Metadata Mapping Language Based on Python

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Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries (ECDL 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 3652))

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Abstract

The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) project has been working on automating the processes of building ADL collections and gathering the collection statistics on which ADL’s discovery system is based. As part of this effort, we have created a language and supporting programmatic framework for expressing mappings from XML metadata schemas to the required ADL metadata views. This language, based on the Python scripting language, is largely declarative in nature, corresponding to the fact that mappings can be largely—though not entirely—specified by crosswalk-type specifications. At the same time, the language allows mappings to be specified procedurally, which we argue is necessary to deal effectively with the realities of poor quality, highly variable, and incomplete metadata. An additional key feature of the language is the ability to derive new mappings from existing mappings, thereby making it easy to adapt generic mappings to the idiosyncrasies of particular metadata providers. We evaluate this language on three metadata standards (ADN, FGDC, and MARC) and three corresponding collections of metadata. We also note limitations, future research directions, and generalizations of this work.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alexandria Digital Library Project, Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-3060

    Greg Janée

  2. Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-5131

    James Frew

Authors
  1. Greg Janée
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  2. James Frew
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

    Andreas Rauber

  2. Laboratory of Distributed Multimedia Information Systems and Applications, Technical University of Crete (MUSIC/TUC) Chania, 73100, Crete, Greece

    Stavros Christodoulakis

  3. Institute of Software Technology and Interactive Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Favoritenstr. 9-11/188, A-1040, Wien, Austria

    A Min Tjoa

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Janée, G., Frew, J. (2005). A Hybrid Declarative/Procedural Metadata Mapping Language Based on Python. In: Rauber, A., Christodoulakis, S., Tjoa, A.M. (eds) Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries. ECDL 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3652. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11551362_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11551362_27

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-28767-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31931-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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