May 15, 2005
Whitsun carnival 2005
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The time of the year came for the carnival at Whitsun. I went yesterday, Saturday the 14th of May. The sun was shining and it was nice and hot. The Whitsun is early this year, so it was very nice that the wether was so warm and sunny.
We arrived around 2pm, and not a lot of people was there that early. Mostly families were walking around enjoying the stalls of interesting food, funny stuf, and the mini Tivoli. It is fascinating how much Fælledparken can change from being an anonymous - yet beautiful - park into a mecca of people of many nationalities, lovely smells from the food stalls, beautiful samba dancers, and exotic rhythms.
During the afternoon more people found their way to the park, and by the end of the day, the park was full of people having picnics in the sun. Danes are really good at enjoying the outdoor cultural possibilities, and it was obvious that everyone were relaxing.
There are many many many amazing samba bands playing and dancing, and one of the very poplular bands is called Bafo do mundo. They are about 25 musicians and 35 dancers, and they have some amazing costumes - they make you feel like you are somewhere else than in a tent in Copenhagen. They take you to Brazil with well played samba music and beautiful dancers, who look like they really are enjoying being on stage.
Listening to samba rhythms and seeing samba dancers always makes me want to dance. I cannot just stand around looking - and everyone dances along to the music. The tents at Fælledparken are moving along with the people inside of them. And all the visitors of the carnival are happy and smiling.
It is in fact one big party for everyone who wants to party - you should try it next year!
May 12, 2005
Nouvelle Vague
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Please let me introduce to you a fantastic band which has made an absolutely amazing album: Nouvelle Vague.
It is a French band, their name means ‘New Wave’ in French and ‘Bossa Nova’ in Portuguese.
The tracks on their one and only (so far) album are all cover numbers, but beyond what you normally expect from cover numbers. Let me ask you:
1. Can you imagine Dead Kennedys in Bossa Nova style?
No, I didn’t think so…and
2. Could you ever believe that it would be seductive, smooth, and feminin?
Not really, right?
Well Nouvelle Vague will give you a completly new experience of a lot of tracks you already know. On their website you can listen to three tracks from their album in full length.
May 11, 2005
Bibliographic data and metadata
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I would like to participate in the definition and historical background of some of the buzz words that are being used today.
To begin with I will give it a short go with bibliographic data and metadata - the purpose, similarities, and differenses.
As these definitions are taken from my dissertation I will provide you with references as well - just in case some one felt the need to check up on it or for further reading.
Data means the given, facts there as such are no doubt about (Andersen, 1996, p.28-29). Meta means superior/unifying, and referes to taking a view from above. The word meta though cannot be uses on its own but is attached to other concepts such as for example metalitterature, which is litterature that gives an overview over what has been published of a certain kind of litterature (Andersen, 1996, p.59). Therefor it is to be said that metadata is data about data.
Vellucci (1999) seperates bibliographic data from metadata by saying that bibliographic data is related to physical collections, and metadata referes to electronic collections. Not everyone makes this distinction of the concept ‘data’ in physical collections versus electronic collections, see for example Cathro; 1997 and Taylor; 1999.
Metadata then means unifying data and referes to data elements that represents something bigger, more og something else – a surrogate.
Never the less, metadata is a concept that has arisen within the domain of computer science (Lykke Nielsen, 2002, p.51), and metadata is based on exactly the same principles as bibliographic data (Milstead and Feldman, 1999, p.1). There are several reasons behind the present focus on metadata today compared to bibliographic data. Amongst others can be mentioned the extreme rise in electronic collections (Vellucci, 1999, p.33). Besides that a lot of people in business and corporate sectors thinks that metadata as concept is a new thing, and threrefor ascribe a lot of attention to the concept (Milstead and Feldman, 1999, p.1).
Bibliographic data is the set of dataelements that is related to documents, that is extracted and is used as describing data, that constitutes a ‘record’. This does not original encompasses the topic describing data (Dansk Standard, 1996, p.48).
Records relates itself to data in a bibliographic sense. Bibliographic data is put in a record in bibliographic databases, and is in that way surrogates for the document it self.
Electronich data, that is metadata, is collected in metedata formats and has to a certain extent the same funktion as records. The difference on bibliographic records and metadata formats is though, that one does not necessarily retrieve the actual metadata format as a surrogate for the actual object, but one is presented with a search result of actual documents.
Metadata is typically used in environments that uses full text documents, which is the opposite of what is defined as bibliographic environment.
One of the reasons why it is still relevant to talk about bibliographic records in these modern times with the overload of full text documents is, that reality is, that far from all organisations has all their documents and documentation in electronic formats (Taylor, 1999, p.14). Though to support use of physical documents to the full, they have to be retrievalble in electronic systems (at least in the long run) (ibid.; Factiva, 2003, p.3).
Ironically is that the thought of the paperless office more or less is non-existing today despite that systems for handling electronic documents has become better and way more effective. It is a recognized fact that people still wants a part og their documents in physical formats (Bavnhøj, 2003). The importance of having systems that can handle documents and records is not affected by this, as it does not get less important as information and knowledge still has to be distributed and communicated through systems.
New electronic systems handles physical documents (that is surrogates/records) as well as electronic documents in the same system, which is why it makes sense to use the same kind of data to handle them with (Factiva, 2003).
References:
- Andersen, A. (1996). Veje til viden. København: Nordisk Forlag A/S. 386 sider.
- Bavnhøj, J. (2003). Vi bruger mere og mere papir. Localized on: http://www.trae.dk/index.asp? page=/Dokumenter/Dokument.asp%3FDokumentID%3D530 d.25.11.2003.
- Cathro, W. (1997). Metadata: An overview. Localized on: http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/cathro3.html d.04.08.2003.
- Dansk Standard (1996). Informationshåndbogen. Charlottenlund: Dansk Standard. 196 sider.
- Factiva (2003). Content intelligence services: Driving smart workplaces. Modtaget i nyhedsbrev i marts 2003.
- Lykke Nielsen, M. (2002). Konstruktion af metadatasystemer. Arkiv. Tidsskrift for arkivforvaltning og arkivteknik, (7), s. 51-61.
- Milstead, J. and Feldman, S. (1999). Metadata: Cataloging by any other name… Online, January 1999. Localized on: http://www.onlinemag.net/OL1999/milstead1.html d.06.02.2003. (Does not work as a link any longer).
- Taylor, A. G. (1999). The Organization of information. USA: Libraries unlimited. 280 sider.
- Vellucci, S. L. (2000). Metadata and authority control. Library resources & technical Services, 44 (1), s. 33-43.
May 10, 2005
Online Information 2005
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Once again I have started recieving emails about the upcoming exhibition and conferencen. And once again I would love to go. Have been there twice (2000 and 2002), and I have a really positive impression of the event. So many different views on different topics, and a lot of interesting companies and vendors.
http://www.online-information.co.uk/ol05/index.html
This year the focus is on Informations Architecture, Enterprise search, Reducing risk through effective information management, New technologies and changing in user behaviours, New working environments, Library developments, Personal information management, Professional development and job mobility, Wikies and blogs, Informations discovery, Global intellectual property and copyright, and Information developments in Asia and China.
Does that sound cool or what! It definitely sounds like I have to go this year!
A lot of the big and leading players within my domain of work, Information Architecture, is represented amongst the exhibitors, so it is pretty much heaven to stroll around the hall for a few days chatting to people and getting new knowledge about upcoming and recent trents in the business.
The exhibition and conference runs from 29th of November til 1st of December in Olympia Grand Hall in London. The location is right next door to Kensington Olympia, so it is ever so easy to get there.
Oh and did I mention that the exhibition is free!!