A MARC-LOM Crosswalk for e-Learning Yang Cao, Fuhua Lin, Rory McGreal, etc May 19, 2004

Introduction  Demand For Online Education /e-Learning  Reuse of Learning Resources –Learning objects [IEEE]  Why Crosswalk –Minimize the amount of time needed to create and maintain the metadata –Maximize metadata’s usefulness to the widest community of users

Introduction (ctd)  What is Crosswalk? –A crosswalk is a semantic or technical mapping (sometimes both) from one metadata standard to another  Objectives –Developing automated tool for converting from MARC to LOM –Investigating the issues and challenges of this crosswalk

What is MARC MARC -- MAchine-Readable Cataloging 00941nam a s2002 flum b a001 0 eng a a aDLCbengcDLCdDLC apcc00aQA76.9.D3bT a005.75/8221 aQA 76.9.D3 T aThuraisingham, Bhavani M.10aXML databases and the semantic Web /cBhavani Thuraisingham. aBoca Raton, FL :bCRC Press,c2002. a306 p. :bill. ;c24 cm. aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 0aDatabase management. 0aXML (Document markup language) 0aWeb site development. 0aSemantic Web. aCaAEAU. a- p-----m-r-aaap main comp2book1 aInv# ATHA Dated: Amt:$ On: Voucher#43778 For \us75.95

What is LOM?  Learning Object Metadata  The LOM/Cancore standard focuses on the minimal set of properties needed to allow learning objects to be managed, located, and evaluated.  LOM/Cancore schema – p0/lom.xsd

ISBN XML databases and the semantic Web Database management. LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0FN: … END:VCARD non-digital QA 76.9.D3 T ….

Design of MARC-LOM Crosswalk  The Marc to LOM converter is a web- based program that takes the metadata of library materials in MARC format and converts them into LOM format MARC-LOM Converter LOM MARC

MARC – LOM converter

Process of MARC-LOM Conversion

MARC … …. ‑ s2002 flum b a001 0 eng ‑ ­ a ‑ ­a ‑ ­aDLC­beng …. aXML databases and the semantic Web … MARC-XML elements s2002 flum b a001 0 eng XML databases and the semantic Web LOM XML elements en XML databases and the semantic Web An Example of Mapping

Semantic Mapping  A mapping of each element in the source metadata standard with a semantically equivalent element in the target metadata standard  Requires in-depth knowledge and specialized expertise in the associated metadata standards  Mapping is an iterative process involving ongoing refinement, revision, and, even rethinking of element matches.

LOM/CANCORE ELEMENT MARC TAG & SUBFIELD MARC DESCRIPTION CONDITIONS 1.1 Identifier020 aISBNIf MARC tag is 020, then the catalog = ISBN 022 aISSNIf MARC tag is 022, then the catalog = ISSN 856 uElectronic Location and Access 1.2 Title245 aTitle 245 bRemainder of title 1.3 Language008/35-37Language 1.4 Description520 aSummary 1.5 Keyword600 aSubject – Personal 610 aSubject – Corporate 650 aSubject – Topical 611 aSubject-Conference 2.1 Version250 aEdition 2.3 Contribute Role 100 aPersonal authorField present if item was created by the entry. MARC 21 to LOM/CanCore Crosswalk Table

Technical Mapping  Employs a set of computer programs and transformation languages  Extensible Stylesheet Language Transform (XSLT) to programmatically change extensible Markup Language (XML) metadata records from MARC-XML format to LOM XML format  Differences in terminology and structures existed in two metadata standards and the mapping needs “semantic” mapping not just simple element or structure mapping.

Challenges in Mapping  Lack of common terminology  Different structures of metadata standards  Expertise in element mapping –one to one –one to many –many to one  Loss of information

MARC XML 00941nam a s2002 flum b a001 0 eng …. QA 76.9.D3 T XML databases and the semantic Web Bhavani Thuraisingham. …. Database management. ….. Semantic Web. ……….

LOM ISBN XML databases and the semantic Web Database management. LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 FN:Bhavani M.Thuraisingham N:Thuraisingham; Bhavani; M. END:VCARD

Conclusion and Future Work  The MARC-LOM Crosswalk –Allows MARC based library content metadata to interact with XML based digital repositories –Enables the simplification of the creation/maintenance of metadata and their utilization in e-Learning –Brings us one step closer to enabling the use of intelligent agents on the semantic web  Future work –Focus on interoperability functions including finding resources and retrieving them, and supporting interactions between repositories

Acknowledgement  This project is funded by Industry Canada and was part of an initiative called IMEC (Interoperable Metadata for e-Learning in Canada) as well as the pan-Canadian eduSource project funded by CANARIE, Canada’s broadband research network.  The software application was based partially on the work of the Library of Congress.

References 1. CIHE: The Council for Industry and Higher Education, Response to the joint consultation document from HEFCE and the Learning and Skills Council (2002), uk.com/partnershipsfor.htmhttp:// uk.com/partnershipsfor.htm 2. Cao, Y., Jim, G.: Agent Programmability in a Multi-Agent Learning Environment. Proceeing of the 11th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education. Australia(2003). 3. Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC): 4. CETIS Group: 5.MERLOT: 6. Wisconsin Online Resource Center - Wisc-Online Learning Object Project: online.com/ online.com/ 7.Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLJESE): MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC): 9. IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM): CanCore Initiative MARC-XML architecture architecture.htmlhttp:// architecture.html 12. St. Pierre, M., LaPlant, W. P. Jr. : Issues in Crosswalking Content Metadata Standards (1998)

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