(13 February 2013) The last 15 places are available – register online1 for the first international discovery summit, in London on 21-22 February. Jisc and the British Library are calling university librarians and archivists, library staff, museum curators and expert developers from across the globe to ask ‘how is open data transforming the world’s great collections at universities, galleries, libraries, archives and museums from being on the internet, to being of the internet?’
The aim is that by the end of the summit there will be an international action plan which will bring together collaborative next steps on the road to discovery. This two day summit is also open for online attendance. There is no need for registration, simply visit the Jisc website2 to join in on the day.
Discovery of resources for research and education is an area of almost continual upheaval and this presents many challenges. Jisc and the British Library want to find out how open data can be used to make library, archive and museum collections easier for the public to find and use.
Effective resource discovery services are important for the student and research experience and for ensuring that valuable and unique collections are accessible as widely as possible. There are often barriers in place which prevent resources being openly discoverable, such as technical and licensing requirements. This summit, which will also be live streamed3, invites attendees to share ideas and approaches to these challenges. It will compare and contrast endeavours that desire to meet the opportunities that open data presents.
The summit will: Showcase new and exciting initiatives on how open data is delivering a digital world that is ‘live, local and social’; Test boundaries and ask inconvenient questions about the relevance, benefits and impact of open data; Explore open data from a developer’s perspective to understand better how the data can be used in novel and innovative ways.
Andy McGregor, Jisc, programme manager says: “Jisc has been working on making library, museum and archive collections easier to find on the web for the last two years. The approach we have taken has been based around taking an open approach to metadata. One of the really exciting aspects of this work is how many other people around the world are pursuing similar strategies. Europeana, The Digital Public Library of America, the BBC and the British Library are all pursuing exciting new developments based on open metadata. The Discovery Summit has been designed to explore these similarities and allow us to work out how we can work together to address shared challenges.”
The two day programme4 includes presentations from: Bill Thompson, Head of Partnership Development, Archive Development, BBC; Alastair Dunning, Programme Manager, European Library; Roly Keating, Chief Executive, British Library; Antonio Acuna, Head of Data.gov.uk, Cabinet Office; and Maura Marx, Secretariat Director, Digital Public Library of America.
Neil Wilson, British Library says: “The British Library is participating in several international initiatives building standards to be used in the next generation of resource discovery systems. We also work with partners in the wider community via our open metadata strategy to explore the possibilities of new resource discovery technologies such as linked open data. The common factor is collaboration since whatever the technologies, our users need interoperable solutions and we can no longer afford to use standalone approaches. Events like the Discovery Summit are therefore essential in enabling us to clearly identify the shared challenges libraries, galleries, archives and museums face together with the joint actions needed to address them.” The hashtag for the event is #disc13
