[1] From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org> (121)
Subject: Two Metadata Workshop Reports Available
[2] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@english.uga.edu> (124)
Subject: AMICO and ARS reach important agreement
[3] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@english.uga.edu> (33)
Subject: Software patents in Europe
[4] From: Klaus Graf <graf@uni-koblenz.de> (31)
From: Tim Reuter <T.Reuter@soton.ac.uk> (2)
Subject: Donaueschingen library
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:54:42 -0500
From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org>
Subject: Two Metadata Workshop Reports Available
=FF=03NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
June 14, 1999
=FF=04 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D
=20
European Commission: Third Metadata Workshop Report
Luxembourg, April 12, 1999
http://www.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata/metadata3.html
NISO/CLIR/RLG: Technical Metadata Elements for Images Workshop Report
Washington, DC, April 18-19, 1999
http://www.niso.org/image.html
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Two contrasting reports here on recent Metadata meetings: one high-level me=
eting, organized by the European Commission, emphasizing the importance of =
continuing inclusion of communities and factors in the building of metadata=
standards; the other very spe
cifically focusing on today's practical needs for standards and practices i=
n metadata for visual material.
David Green
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
European Commission: Third Metadata Workshop Report
Luxembourg, April 12, 1999
http://www.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata/metadata3.html
>From: Terry Kuny <Terry.Kuny@xist.com>
>>To: DIGLIB@INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA
>>Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 17:42:26 +0200
>>From: "Makx Dekkers" <mdekkers@ip.lu>
On 12 April 1999, the third Metadata Workshop and Concertation Meeting, org=
anised by the European Commission DGXIII/E2, took place in Luxembourg.
48 participants from organisations all around Europe attended the workshop =
as well as several European Commission services.
This workshop, which is part of an on-going concertation activity started i=
n 1997, had four objectives:
- to present recent developments around the Dublin Core metadata
element set and look at future directions
- to present RDF and XML and look at the practical consequences
for metadata implementation
- to look at issues related to unique identifiers for electronic
resources
- to discuss metadata issues related to long-term availability of
resources.
The workshop was conducted in 4 sessions, reflecting the objectives above.
The major conclusions of the workshop can be summarised as follows:
- For electronic documents and resources produced today, there is
a pressing need for tools and systems to create and maintain
metadata. Further research in this area is necessary.
- The matter is complex, as requirements of different types have
to be met, e.g. electronic commerce and long-term preservation
of resources.
- There is a need for a highest common denominator across domains
and services. It is not yet clear what the specification for
this is, and co-operation between many actors is necessary.
- For projects under the Fourth Framework Programme it is
necessary to pay attention to the developments.
- For projects under the Fifth Framework Programme, the scope
needs to be widened to include other domains, especially museums
and archives where these issues are also important. A wide
participation in the debate would increase the general
applicability and interoperability of the solutions.
- Under the Fifth Framework Programme, clustering of activities in
the area of metadata systems and services is encouraged.
- The following recommendations can be formulated:
- Continuation of concertation is necessary
- Initiatives need to take a focused, practical approach
- The needs of the European citizen need to be taken into
account
- Performance criteria and impact of initiatives need to be
measured
- Issues around cost and quality need to be further addressed
- Support for multilinguality needs to be enhanced
- Further involvement of commercial parties is necessary
For further information, including PowerPoint presentations, see
the Workshop's Web site at: http://www.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata/metada=
ta3.html
For more information concerning the first two workshops, see:
http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata.html
http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/metadata2.html
For more information on the Libraries sector of the Telematics
Application Programme, see Web site at:
http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/libraries.html
__________________________________________________________________
Makx Dekkers e-mail: mdekkers@ip.lu
PricewaterhouseCoopers GSM: +352 021 29 72 29
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TechServ Team tel: +352 492 429 2221
9 rue Schiller, L-2519 Luxembourg fax: +352 492 429 2299
******************************************************************
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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NISO/CLIR/RLG: Technical Metadata Elements for Images Workshop Report
Washington, DC, April 18-19, 1999
http://www.niso.org/image.html
>Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 11:15:35 -0500
>From: Pat Harris <pharris@niso.org>
>Subject: Image Workshop report available
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NISO (The National Information Standards Organization), CLIR (The Council o=
n Library and Information Resources) and RLG (The Research Libraries Group)=
sponsored an invitational workshop on April 18th and 19th in Washington DC=
to examine technical informat
ion needed to manage and use digital still images that reproduce a variety =
of pictures, documents and artifacts.=20
The meeting was attended by about 60 individuals with a wide range of diver=
se interests and perspectives on the problem of metadata information. Atten=
dees represented libraries, universities, museums, archives, the digital li=
brary community, the governmen
t, and the digital imaging vendor community.
The meeting was facilitated by Jennifer Trant of the Art Museum Image Conso=
rtium. In its first session, the whole group heard introductory remarks fro=
m Howard Besser, a member of the organizing committee, and reports on metad=
ata intiatives at the Library=20
of Congress, the Research Libraries Group, the Art Museum Image Consortium =
and the Making of America II project. Three breakout groups then met to dis=
cuss:
* Characteristics and Features of Images =20
* Image Production and Reformatting Features =20
* Image identification and integrity Issues
The group as a whole reconvened to hear reports from the three breakout gro=
ups and recommendations for further action. They reached agreement on:
* a preliminary list of technical metadata elements;
* the need for a categorization of elements as mandatory or optional;
* the need for metadata to help evaluate the utility of an image for a pa=
rticular application or use;
* using industry standard metrics for assessing images where they existed (=
tone, color, icc profiles,);
* the need for methods of pointing at external test charts;
* the importance of mechanisms for referring to external metadata files;
* the need for image specific metadata and methods for creating this metad=
ata;
* the importance of persistence of metadata through transformations of an i=
mage;
* the fact that the metadata assigned an item depended on the metadata cre=
ators' definition of the work;
* the desirability of solutions devised to work in a broad array of contex=
ts.
Workshop participants identified and committed to the following next steps:
1. Publishing an expanded/edited set of metadata elements with examples. =
=20
2. Articulating what tools need to be developed to assess how well an imag=
e was made. =20
3. Exploring the viability of creating an integrated test chart; =20
4. Making an inventory of existing tools and metadata standards ; =20
5. Developing guidelines and a template for the kind of data that should g=
o into a project description; =20
6. Drafting a canonical image format that will express equivalence of data=
that may have been stored in multiple image formats; =20
7. Scoping the effort involved in defining a vocabulary to express the r=
elationships between images.
The organizing committee adopted a process for moving beyond the work of th=
e two days. First, a meeting report would be drafted for comment, discussio=
n, and review by the organizing committee and participants. Then the commit=
tee will explore how to includ
e other stakeholders in the consensus.=20
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
National Information Standards Organization
4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300
Bethesda, MD 20814 USA
T: 301-654-2512
Fax: 301-654-1721
Email: nisohq@niso.org
url: www.niso.org
To order a NISO Standard call 1-800-282-NISO
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 13:41:24 -0500 (EST)
From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@english.uga.edu>
Subject: AMICO and ARS reach important agreement
>> From: "J. Trant" <jtrant@archimuse.com>
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I'm pleased to announce the following agreement between the Art Museum
Image Consortium (AMICO) and the Artists Rights Society (ARS). It's a small
step, but an important one for facilitating educational access to
contemporary and modern art.
Please feel free to forward the following press release to other interested
parties, and to contact me if you have any questions about AMICO or its
programs. AMICO Membership is open to any institution with a collection of
works of art, willing to participate in the activities of the consortium.
Best,
jennifer
AMICO Press Release
June 1, 1999
Art Museum Image Consortium and the Artists Rights Society
Reach Important Agreement
AMICO Headquarters; Pittsburgh, PA
=09Contemporary and Modern art is now available for education! The Art
Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) and the Artists Rights Society (ARS) are
delighted to announce they have reached an agreement to ensure that 20th
century art will be available in the AMICO Library, a subscription-based
resource for use in education, research, and teaching. ARS has granted
AMICO a non-exclusive, North American license to include digital images of
copyrighted works of art by artists and estates represented by the Artists
Rights Society in the AMICO Library, where these works may be consulted
with other multimedia documentation (extended texts and other materials)
created by AMICO Member Museums. In return for the use of these
copyrighted works of art, AMICO will share a proportionate royalty based on
subscription income with ARS.
=09"We've broken a log-jam," said Jennifer Trant, Executive Director
of AMICO. "With this agreement the AMICO Library can fully represent the
modern and contemporary works held by AMICO Members without the added
burden of separate rights clearance," Ms. Trant continued. "Those AMICO
Members whose collections are predominately comprised of works from these
periods, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, and the
Mus=3DE9e d'art contemporain de Montr=3DE9al, will certainly benefit from o=
ur
relationship with ARS. This agreement eases the process for everyone
involved."
=09Theodore Feder, President of the Artists Rights Society, also felt
the agreement was "a win-win. Contemporary artists' work will be much more
available for educational purposes, while ensuring their appropriate use
under an educational license agreement." He was pleased that ARS was part
of the AMICO concept saying that "the Consortium really sets the standard
for dissemination of digital images of works of art in a learning setting."
AMICO Members also welcomed the enhanced coordination this ARS and AMICO
agreement will provide. "We can really participate in the AMICO Library to
our full potential," stated Director of the San Diego Museum of
Contemporary Art, Hugh Davies. Maxwell L. Anderson, Director, Whitney
Museum of American Art, observed, "as the arts community navigates through
the uncertain waters of copyright legislation in a wired world, it is very
exciting to have brought two critical constituencies together in service of
education: our major modern and contemporary artists and our leading art
museums. Thanks to the agreement with ARS, AMICO can now aspire to present
the fullest possible dimensions of contemporary art."
In the end, it's the subscribers to the AMICO Library who will benefit the
most from this agreement. Contemporary art will be included in the AMICO
Library without any change in the subscription fees. And individual
teachers and students will not have to worry about the time consuming and
uncertain process of obtaining copyright clearances. Over time,
collaborations such as these will ensure that the AMICO Library grows in
breadth and depth, to become a resource used in research, teaching and
learning in all arts and humanities disciplines.
The Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) is a not-for-profit association of
art-collecting institutions working together to enable educational use of
their digital documentation. The AMICO Library is a growing collection of
digital multimedia (now text and image and over time also sound and moving
image), compiled by AMICO Members and made available under license for
educational use. Subscriptions to the AMICO Library are available beginning
July 1, 1999, through not-for-profit distributors such as the Research
Libraries Group. Educational institutions, universities, public libraries,
and primary through secondary schools will have access to over 50,000 works
of art.
=3D46ounded in October 1997, as a program of the Association of Art Museum
Directors Educational Foundation, Inc., AMICO was separately incorporated
as an independent non-profit corporation in June of 1998, ending its direct
connection with the AAMD. The Consortium is today made up of 28 of the
major art collections in North America and is regularly adding new Members.
If you are interested in becoming an AMICO Member or Subscriber, please
contact Jennifer Trant, Executive Director <jtrant@amico.org>. Full details
about AMICO and its activities can be found on its web site at
http://www.amico.org
Artists Rights Society (ARS) was appointed in 1986, by the French copyright
societies for visual artists to represent the copyright and permissions
interests of their members within the United States. Since then, ARS has
signed reciprocal contracts with more than twenty other visual artists
rights organizations worldwide. The membership lists of these organizations
include the majority of artists active in this century, including Georges
Braque, Joseph Beuys, Constantin Brancusi, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali,
Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, John Heartfield, Wassily Kandinsky,
=3D46ernand L=3DE9ger, Man Ray, Joan Mir=3DF3, and Edvard Munch. In additio=
n, our
direct European adherents include the estates of Pablo Picasso (through the
Picasso Administration ), Henri Matisse (through the Succession Matisse),
and Ren=3DE9 Magritte. ARS also acts on behalf of American artists and acti=
vel=3D
y
lobbies state and federal legislatures for stronger and more effective
artist's rights laws.
Contact Information:
AMICO
Jennifer Trant
Executive Director
Art Museum Image Consortium
2008 Murray Avenue, Suite D
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Phone (412) 422 8533
=3D46ax (412) 422 8594
Email: jtrant@amico.org
http://www.amico.org
ARS
Theodore Feder
President
Artists Rights Society
65 Bleecker Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 420-9160
=3D46ax: (212) 420-9286
Email: feder@arsny.com
http://www.arsny.com
________
J. Trant=09=09=092008 Murray Ave, Suite D
Executive Director=09=09Pittsburgh, PA 15217 USA
Art Museum Image Consortium
http://www.amico.org=09=09Phone: +1 412 422 8533
jtrant@amico.org=09=09Fax: +1 412 422 8594
________
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 13:52:59 -0500 (EST)
From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@english.uga.edu>
Subject: Software patents in Europe
>> From: Christoph Eyrich <eyrich@prz.tu-berlin.de>
On June 24th and 25th, a legislative proposal is to be presented at the
Intellectual Property Conference in Paris, according to which a
US-like "software patent" system is to be introduced in Europe. =20
In Europe, in contrast to the US and Japan, software, like literature, is
copyrighted but cannot be patented, at least directly. The introduction of
software patents (eagerly awaited by companies such as Microsoft - which,
hardly a coincidence, in the context of the corresponding Green Book of
the European Commission, serves as a testimony to the benefits of software
patents) will pose a serious threat to the further development and usage
of Free Software.=20
Everyone familiar with the unfamous Microsoft Halloween documents will
know that applying for software patents in a large scale has been
considered a possible strategy in fighting the growth of the Linux
operating system and software produced within similar contexts.
There is a desperate need for immediate action in the European
Community. The introduction of software patents has been prepared
largely quietly and the arguments put forward in favour of software
patents are highly questionably.
Further information can be found at
The Green Book can be found at
=09http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/intprop/indprop/paten.pdf
An open letter to the EU Competition Commissioner, Karel van Miert, can be
found at
=09http://swpat.ffii.org/miert/indexen.html
This letter can be signed at
=09http://swpat.ffii.org/miert/sign/siglistde.html
I urge all computing humanists interested in the future availability of
powerful Free Software to voice their concern about these dangerous plans.
Regards,
Christoph Eyrich
-- eyrich@prz.tu-berlin.de--[4]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 20:54:46 -0700 From: Klaus Graf <graf@uni-koblenz.de> Subject: Donaueschingen - please forward!
Reply-To: MEDIAEVISTIK@uranus.ngate.uni-regensburg.de Message-ID: <34A9CAE4379@uranus.ngate.uni-regensburg.de>
Vandalism in Donaueschingen
Without the general public even being aware of what is happening, there has recently been a scandalous incident of the loss of cultural inheritance. Since early June almost the entire collection (ca. 90%) of the Princely Fuerstenberg Court Library in Donaueschingen [Fuerstlich Fuerstenbergische Hofbibliothek zu Donaueschingen] (ca. 130,000 volumes) has been shipped off abroad. An Anglo-American consortium (i.e. Heritage and allied bookdealers) has bought it up. Thus "one of the greatest and most beautiful castle libraries," according to P. Masek, and a cultural monument of the highest order has been destroyed in such an irreparable fashion. Undocumented, the destruction of the collection through sale of the individual items also includes the library (ca. 11,000 published items) of the important Germanist Joseph von Lassberg (1770-1855), a brother-in-law of the poetess Annette von Droste-Huelshoff.
The Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg declined to purchase the highly significant collection, as the Dept. of the Treasury refused to offer more than indefensible arguments, despite the library's role as a protected cultural monument.
More informations (in German): http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~graf/index.html#kulturgut
--- End Forwarded Message ---
---------------------- # Tim Reuter # Department of History, University of Southampton # Southampton SO17 1BJ # tel. +44 1703 594868 (home: 552623; fax: 593458) # email: tr@soton.ac.uk; http://www.soton.ac.uk/~tr/tr.html # ALFRED CONFERENCE: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wmc/alfred.html