LRMI Webinar Expands on Purpose and Schedule for Metadata Framework
On Sept. 23 Charlene Gaynor, CEO of AEP, and Greg Grossmeier, Education Technology & Policy Coordinator for Creative Commons, talked about the benefits of the LRMI, the project schedule, and why they think this project has a good chance for success.
View the slides from the presentation or watch the video.
Highlights from the webinar
What is the LRMI and Schema.org?
Schema.org is a recently announced project by Bing, Google, and Yahoo! that provides a standardized collection of schemas (html tags) that webmasters can use to mark up their pages in ways recognized by major search providers.
Upon completion, the LRMI framework will be submitted to Schema.org, in hopes that it will become the de facto metadata framework for tagging educational resources on the web. To increase interoperability and bolster chances of adoption, LRMI’s vocabulary will build off of the work already done by Schema.org and remain congruent with Schema.org’s framework.
What exactly is metadata?
Metadata is data about data. It’s not the content of the material. It’s the description of the material: title, publication date, Library of Congress subject, etc.
How will the development process work?
The LRMI Technical Working Group (TWG) has begun to develop the list of metadata vocabulary–both common terms like URL and description, which could apply to any resource, and special characteristics unique to learning resources. These characteristics plus definitions will be turned into a proposal that the TWG will submit to Schema.org. Then, the proposal will be distributed to a public mailing list, co-run by Schema.org and the WC3, who will evaluate the document.
Once the document is approved, the LRMI will then turn its attention to long-term governance. Currently, the TWG plans to finish the initial framework in Jan. 2012 with a launch in March 2012.
What are the benefits for the education industry?
- Facilitation of personalized learning–the right content at the right time
- Decreased production costs through industry standardization
- Expanded marketplace for educational content through increased visibility
- Addressing demands of states for standardized description of learning resources
Why does this project have a chance at succeeding?
There have been a number of similar initiatives in the past. Some of them have been more complex and more vertical, but one thing this project attempts to do is to bring a variety of voices to the table. We think by working together we will have a better chance of ending up with an outcome that is beneficial to all constituents. We are making sure the various constituent voices are being heard throughout.