Metayogi Increasing the Accessibility of the Semantic Web Karim Tharani Doug Macdonald Rachel Heidecker

The U of S Problem  Metadata applications at the U of S are currently built as custom web applications with separate database designs that integrate multiple data sources such as: Subscribed electronic resources Open access resources Locally managed digital resources Harvested resources (from external repositories) Locally managed print resources Book covers Time consuming, difficult to maintain and enhance, system-centric vs. user-centric

The Solution: Metayogi  Design tool that allows teams to collaboratively build applications that model, collect, showcase and share metadata from multiple sources to support thematic research, learning and discovery.

Case Study: iPortal  Indigenous Studies Portal (iPortal)iPortal Metadata application with culturally relevant subject headings created by the University Library 100% electronic content  Metayogi Value Adds iPortal staff dedicated to identifying new data sources and enhancing the iPortal records with proprietary subject information IT staff dedicated to enhancing the features of the iPortal (via Metayogi) Not spending time reprogramming every time a new data source is identified

Metayogi Architecture PHP/jQuery Model Collect Showcase Share

How Does It Help?  Increases accessibility of library and related resources for users and other applications to find and consume Web of data  Empowers library staff to design & manage databases with limited programming support Decreased data duplication  Liberates IT staff to focus on feature development and reliability Easier to support and maintain single development platform

How Does It Work?  Metayogi uses metaprogramming techniques (such as reflection, dynamic execution, etc.) to implement Resource Description Framework (RDF) model and concepts.  Uses semantic/logical data modeling to abstract database implementation details (e.g. normalization, many-to-many relationships, etc)

What is Metaprogramming?  A metaprogram is essentially a code generator for other applications.  It allows programmers to minimize the number of lines of code to express a solution (hence reducing development time).  It also gives programmers greater flexibility to efficiently handle new situations without much impact on the architecture and code-base.

What is RDF?  The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a family of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications.  It has come to be used as a general method for conceptual description or modeling of information that is implemented in web resources.  RDF uses subject-predicate-object expressions (triples) for modeling or describing resources.  Think of Web as a database of resources and RDF as a way to defining relationship between them.

Library Advantages  Positions libraries to be ready to integrate, consume and share metadata across many sources and in various formats a) Linked Data b) OAI c) Etc  Decreases duplication of effort and records across multiple systems  Maintains data and system integrity while empowering library staff and end-users