Past Projects

Memex Metadata (M2) for Student Portfolios

The Memex Metadata (M2) for Student Portfolios project (hereafter referred to as M2) advanced work in the areas of student portfolio management, metadata generation, and contextual retrieval. Students need to manage an ever increasing amount of digital information disseminated during class sessions (e.g., lectures, whiteboard notes, slides, handouts, Web pages, emails, and exams) or self-authored as part of their educational experience (e.g., personal notes and term papers—including revisions).

We developed a series of metadata schemas to help university students manage their individual educational portfolios. The metadata schemas are based on learning scenarios and use cases identified for students in a field biology course. The metadata scheme is interoperable with the Context Awareness Framework (CAF) currently being developed by UNC’s Information Technology Services (ITS). The CAF links a software agent on a student’s computer with ontologies and rule sets specific to the university environment. We used the Microsoft Memex research kit to pilot test the effectiveness of M2 schemas and the CAF, and to explore annotation and automatic capturing of contextual metadata for personal educational information.

The long-term goal of our work is to advance contextual metadata activities for personal educational portfolio management and facilitate effective retrieval. The project was supported by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill partnership that includes the School of Information and Library Science, Metadata Research Center; ITS, and the Biology Department.

U-PLanT (University of North Carolina Plant Language Team)

The project explored vocabulary solutions for accessing digital plant information. The project was an extension of Project OpenKey and UNC’s Plant Information Center (PIC).

Vocabulary solutions included a suite of vocabulary tools, a preliminary process model with steps for the development of vocabulary tools, and guiding principles for the development of descriptive plant vocabulary. We worked with SKOS to address the student/scientist vocabulary gap and facilitate student access to primary scientific resources found in education digital initiatives.

MGR: Metadata Generation Research

The Metadata Generation Research (MGR) project examined efficient and effective means of metadata production by integrating human and automatic processes. The research was conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Sciences (NIEHS), an Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The MGR project has been funded by Microsoft Research, OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc., and UNC’s University Research Council.

Project Goals

  • Study human and automatic metadata generation processes.
  • Develop protocols for collaboration between resource authors and metadata professionals during the metadata generation process.
  • Evaluate the integration of collaborative human metadata generation processes and automatic generation processes.
  • Consider implications for the development of the Semantic Web.

PIC: Plant Information Center

The PIC project developed a web-based center that links digital images of herbarium specimens, associated data, outreach programs of the North Carolina Botanical Garden, the data base and web site expertise of the School of Information and Library Science, with a unique library that is a shared facility of Orange County Public Library and McDougle Middle School. Central to the project is the development and employment of a series of applications that facilitate resource discovery, interactive learning, and contributory opportunities within the PIC system. Initial testing of PIC is through sixth-grade science curriculum activities involving plant identification and classification. On a larger scale, PIC promotes the flow of scientific information to researchers, amateur botanists, students (elementary through higher education), and other communities interested in botanical science.

Project Goals

  • Demonstrate a successful cooperation between the university, the public school system, and the public library
  • Create and test an interactive Plant Information Center for the general public, libraries, and public schools
  • Test the usefulness of digital images of herbarium specimens for plant identification and for inspiring the public and public school children with the aims and methods of professional botanical science
  • To develop educational experiences using primary research materials from the herbarium for 6th grade students.