Day Seven focuses on the voices of research participants, ending with an example of a web-based d... more Day Seven focuses on the voices of research participants, ending with an example of a web-based dissertation. The day closes with commentary from some pioneers whose experience summarizes the importance of this work.
Our last dissertation presentation before our closing speakers is also a biographical “participant story” of sorts, though it is a story about the author’s father and his expedition across the plains of Australia. It is also our only electronic dissertation representative. In fact, it was the world’s first electronic, Web-based dissertation as far as we know. Yes, Dr. Simon Pockley was responsible for the world’s first online doctoral thesis, “The Flight of Ducks,” which you can access on the World Wide Web. I’ll write it down for you now: www.duckdigital.net/FOD/. Simon receives invitations to speak at National and International forums where he speaks, and also writes about, values in the ecology of information management. He was a contributor to UNESCO’s Guide to Preservation and Digital Heritage as well as the UNESCO Guide to Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Abstract Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of inp... more Abstract Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms suitable for the generation of high quality moving image metadata. A lack of semantic precision in both the definition and in the conceptual complexity of DC. Type's encoding scheme has prompted a re-evaluation of its usefulness as an element to be populated for interchange and discovery.
Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms ... more Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms suitable for the generation of high quality moving image metadata. A lack of semantic precision in both the definition and in the conceptual complexity of DC.Type’s encoding scheme has prompted a re-evaluation of its usefulness as an element to be populated for interchange and discovery. In order to introduce precision to this element, a distinction is made between subject-based descriptors (genres), object based descriptors (forms), and manifestations or format-based descriptors (formats). A DCT2 vocabulary is proposed for DC.Type as a point of discussion for facilitating the deployment of domain specific encoding schemes and for filling gaps in the current list of terms.
Accessible since early 1995, the Flight of Ducks was the first fully online Ph.D. The difficultie... more Accessible since early 1995, the Flight of Ducks was the first fully online Ph.D. The difficulties encountered in keeping this work live have included institutional dysfunction, redundant technologies, and citation erosion. Strategies to overcome these problems have required a significant re-conceptualisation, not just of the work or who should take responsibility for maintaining it in the digital environment but of the form and function of ETD itself.
Access to structured metadata in the Arts is a radical idea. It can be compared to the challenge ... more Access to structured metadata in the Arts is a radical idea. It can be compared to the challenge of building a Nation out of a group of warring states, where assembly is characterized by friction and tension. When those who create it do not share the values residing in its use and distribution, metadata becomes unreliable. In a federated repository, it becomes useless. Understanding the importance of such cultural values may be as important a step in building a sustainable back-of-house infrastructure for generating quality metadata, as building the front-of-house services that can understand it.
A general discussion about metadata in the Arts is illustrated from research into collaborative metadata production conducted at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The research demonstrated how the values of the various practitioners can have a significant impact on the quality of metadata and hence an organization’s ability to participate in an Arts cluster or a cultural network. These values reach into the fabric of how ideas and thoughts are expressed in an electronic environment. They also play an important role in the durability of artistic expression. Ultimately, they point towards the development of a poetic for the art of metadata.
When core functional requirements of a University Digital Repository are transformed into feature... more When core functional requirements of a University Digital Repository are transformed into feature requests to a software vendor, there is an underlying process of loss.
To understand this process, a close analysis of the form, content and function of key project documents is undertaken. The ghost of a single requirement, search/browse, is traced from its ubiquitous and well-articulated pre-project origins to a formal state of absence. Samples from project documents illustrate how multi-columned spreadsheets and deeply nested numbering sequences can atomise and compress meaning to the point where the forms of these documents become engines of information destruction. When misused, these forms can lead to dislocation, absorption, empty references and binary translations without qualifications or context.
The mechanisms that are described could apply to any project. Recommended strategies for preventing loss and confusion are based on aligning shallow document structures, no more than three levels deep, with real use scenarios.
An Archival Commons is a framework for a globally distributed digital repository for self-archivi... more An Archival Commons is a framework for a globally distributed digital repository for self-archiving and annotation. This pervasive but socially connected space is organised into a virtual topography by the use of tools that are geospatially and temporally aware.
Preconditions for an Archival Commons are developing rapidly - but are yet to converge. An Archival Commons will transform our understanding of the archive from being an official space for institutionally controlled recollection (necrotic in character), to being a non-official space for individual aspiration and intent.
The tensions and anxieties in this transformation arise from the potential for oppositions between public access to private actions, authoritarian rigidity over flexible spontaneity, and between malevolent surveillance and benevolent nurture.
The imaginative and propositional practice of the arts suggest that this sector is better positioned than the technology or engineering sectors to explore the kinds of principles and mutual obligations that would allow for digital expressions of cultural values to flourish in a socially connected space.
The theoretical attractiveness of using market instruments to assist the Australian energy sector... more The theoretical attractiveness of using market instruments to assist the Australian energy sector meet lower green house gas emission targets won’t work if the market does not operate efficiently. Factors working against an efficient market relate to size, lack of homogeneity, inaccurate baselines, phantom commodities, convoluted levels of abstraction, and a level of complexity that point to using simpler, more direct forms of regulation that can be easily understood and aligned with community aspirations.
Day Seven focuses on the voices of research participants, ending with an example of a web-based d... more Day Seven focuses on the voices of research participants, ending with an example of a web-based dissertation. The day closes with commentary from some pioneers whose experience summarizes the importance of this work.
Our last dissertation presentation before our closing speakers is also a biographical “participant story” of sorts, though it is a story about the author’s father and his expedition across the plains of Australia. It is also our only electronic dissertation representative. In fact, it was the world’s first electronic, Web-based dissertation as far as we know. Yes, Dr. Simon Pockley was responsible for the world’s first online doctoral thesis, “The Flight of Ducks,” which you can access on the World Wide Web. I’ll write it down for you now: www.duckdigital.net/FOD/. Simon receives invitations to speak at National and International forums where he speaks, and also writes about, values in the ecology of information management. He was a contributor to UNESCO’s Guide to Preservation and Digital Heritage as well as the UNESCO Guide to Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Abstract Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of inp... more Abstract Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms suitable for the generation of high quality moving image metadata. A lack of semantic precision in both the definition and in the conceptual complexity of DC. Type's encoding scheme has prompted a re-evaluation of its usefulness as an element to be populated for interchange and discovery.
Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms ... more Type has come to the fore as one of the primary organizing elements in the design of input forms suitable for the generation of high quality moving image metadata. A lack of semantic precision in both the definition and in the conceptual complexity of DC.Type’s encoding scheme has prompted a re-evaluation of its usefulness as an element to be populated for interchange and discovery. In order to introduce precision to this element, a distinction is made between subject-based descriptors (genres), object based descriptors (forms), and manifestations or format-based descriptors (formats). A DCT2 vocabulary is proposed for DC.Type as a point of discussion for facilitating the deployment of domain specific encoding schemes and for filling gaps in the current list of terms.
Accessible since early 1995, the Flight of Ducks was the first fully online Ph.D. The difficultie... more Accessible since early 1995, the Flight of Ducks was the first fully online Ph.D. The difficulties encountered in keeping this work live have included institutional dysfunction, redundant technologies, and citation erosion. Strategies to overcome these problems have required a significant re-conceptualisation, not just of the work or who should take responsibility for maintaining it in the digital environment but of the form and function of ETD itself.
Access to structured metadata in the Arts is a radical idea. It can be compared to the challenge ... more Access to structured metadata in the Arts is a radical idea. It can be compared to the challenge of building a Nation out of a group of warring states, where assembly is characterized by friction and tension. When those who create it do not share the values residing in its use and distribution, metadata becomes unreliable. In a federated repository, it becomes useless. Understanding the importance of such cultural values may be as important a step in building a sustainable back-of-house infrastructure for generating quality metadata, as building the front-of-house services that can understand it.
A general discussion about metadata in the Arts is illustrated from research into collaborative metadata production conducted at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The research demonstrated how the values of the various practitioners can have a significant impact on the quality of metadata and hence an organization’s ability to participate in an Arts cluster or a cultural network. These values reach into the fabric of how ideas and thoughts are expressed in an electronic environment. They also play an important role in the durability of artistic expression. Ultimately, they point towards the development of a poetic for the art of metadata.
When core functional requirements of a University Digital Repository are transformed into feature... more When core functional requirements of a University Digital Repository are transformed into feature requests to a software vendor, there is an underlying process of loss.
To understand this process, a close analysis of the form, content and function of key project documents is undertaken. The ghost of a single requirement, search/browse, is traced from its ubiquitous and well-articulated pre-project origins to a formal state of absence. Samples from project documents illustrate how multi-columned spreadsheets and deeply nested numbering sequences can atomise and compress meaning to the point where the forms of these documents become engines of information destruction. When misused, these forms can lead to dislocation, absorption, empty references and binary translations without qualifications or context.
The mechanisms that are described could apply to any project. Recommended strategies for preventing loss and confusion are based on aligning shallow document structures, no more than three levels deep, with real use scenarios.
An Archival Commons is a framework for a globally distributed digital repository for self-archivi... more An Archival Commons is a framework for a globally distributed digital repository for self-archiving and annotation. This pervasive but socially connected space is organised into a virtual topography by the use of tools that are geospatially and temporally aware.
Preconditions for an Archival Commons are developing rapidly - but are yet to converge. An Archival Commons will transform our understanding of the archive from being an official space for institutionally controlled recollection (necrotic in character), to being a non-official space for individual aspiration and intent.
The tensions and anxieties in this transformation arise from the potential for oppositions between public access to private actions, authoritarian rigidity over flexible spontaneity, and between malevolent surveillance and benevolent nurture.
The imaginative and propositional practice of the arts suggest that this sector is better positioned than the technology or engineering sectors to explore the kinds of principles and mutual obligations that would allow for digital expressions of cultural values to flourish in a socially connected space.
The theoretical attractiveness of using market instruments to assist the Australian energy sector... more The theoretical attractiveness of using market instruments to assist the Australian energy sector meet lower green house gas emission targets won’t work if the market does not operate efficiently. Factors working against an efficient market relate to size, lack of homogeneity, inaccurate baselines, phantom commodities, convoluted levels of abstraction, and a level of complexity that point to using simpler, more direct forms of regulation that can be easily understood and aligned with community aspirations.
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Books by Simon Pockley
Our last dissertation presentation before our closing speakers is
also a biographical “participant story” of sorts, though it is a story about the author’s father and his expedition across the plains of Australia. It is also our only electronic dissertation representative. In fact, it was the world’s first electronic, Web-based dissertation as far as we know. Yes, Dr. Simon Pockley was responsible for the world’s first online doctoral thesis, “The Flight of Ducks,” which you can access on the World Wide Web. I’ll write it down for you now: www.duckdigital.net/FOD/. Simon receives invitations to speak
at National and International forums where he speaks, and also writes about, values in the ecology of information management. He was a contributor to UNESCO’s Guide to Preservation and Digital Heritage as well as the UNESCO Guide to Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Papers by Simon Pockley
A general discussion about metadata in the Arts is illustrated from research into collaborative metadata production conducted at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The research demonstrated how the values of the various practitioners can have a significant impact on the quality of metadata and hence an organization’s ability to participate in an Arts cluster or a cultural network. These values reach into the fabric of how ideas and thoughts are expressed in an electronic environment. They also play an important role in the durability of artistic expression. Ultimately, they point towards the development of a poetic for the art of metadata.
To understand this process, a close analysis of the form, content and function of key project documents is undertaken. The ghost of a single requirement, search/browse, is traced from its ubiquitous and well-articulated pre-project origins to a formal state of absence. Samples from project documents illustrate how multi-columned spreadsheets and deeply nested numbering sequences can atomise and compress meaning to the point where the forms of these documents become engines of information destruction. When misused, these forms can lead to dislocation, absorption, empty references and binary translations without qualifications or context.
The mechanisms that are described could apply to any project. Recommended strategies for preventing loss and confusion are based on aligning shallow document structures, no more than three levels deep, with real use scenarios.
Preconditions for an Archival Commons are developing rapidly - but are yet to converge. An Archival Commons will transform our understanding of the archive from being an official space for institutionally controlled recollection (necrotic in character), to being a non-official space for individual aspiration and intent.
The tensions and anxieties in this transformation arise from the potential for oppositions between public access to private actions, authoritarian rigidity over flexible spontaneity, and between malevolent surveillance and benevolent nurture.
The imaginative and propositional practice of the arts suggest that this sector is better positioned than the technology or engineering sectors to explore the kinds of principles and mutual obligations that would allow for digital expressions of cultural values to flourish in a socially connected space.
Our last dissertation presentation before our closing speakers is
also a biographical “participant story” of sorts, though it is a story about the author’s father and his expedition across the plains of Australia. It is also our only electronic dissertation representative. In fact, it was the world’s first electronic, Web-based dissertation as far as we know. Yes, Dr. Simon Pockley was responsible for the world’s first online doctoral thesis, “The Flight of Ducks,” which you can access on the World Wide Web. I’ll write it down for you now: www.duckdigital.net/FOD/. Simon receives invitations to speak
at National and International forums where he speaks, and also writes about, values in the ecology of information management. He was a contributor to UNESCO’s Guide to Preservation and Digital Heritage as well as the UNESCO Guide to Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
A general discussion about metadata in the Arts is illustrated from research into collaborative metadata production conducted at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The research demonstrated how the values of the various practitioners can have a significant impact on the quality of metadata and hence an organization’s ability to participate in an Arts cluster or a cultural network. These values reach into the fabric of how ideas and thoughts are expressed in an electronic environment. They also play an important role in the durability of artistic expression. Ultimately, they point towards the development of a poetic for the art of metadata.
To understand this process, a close analysis of the form, content and function of key project documents is undertaken. The ghost of a single requirement, search/browse, is traced from its ubiquitous and well-articulated pre-project origins to a formal state of absence. Samples from project documents illustrate how multi-columned spreadsheets and deeply nested numbering sequences can atomise and compress meaning to the point where the forms of these documents become engines of information destruction. When misused, these forms can lead to dislocation, absorption, empty references and binary translations without qualifications or context.
The mechanisms that are described could apply to any project. Recommended strategies for preventing loss and confusion are based on aligning shallow document structures, no more than three levels deep, with real use scenarios.
Preconditions for an Archival Commons are developing rapidly - but are yet to converge. An Archival Commons will transform our understanding of the archive from being an official space for institutionally controlled recollection (necrotic in character), to being a non-official space for individual aspiration and intent.
The tensions and anxieties in this transformation arise from the potential for oppositions between public access to private actions, authoritarian rigidity over flexible spontaneity, and between malevolent surveillance and benevolent nurture.
The imaginative and propositional practice of the arts suggest that this sector is better positioned than the technology or engineering sectors to explore the kinds of principles and mutual obligations that would allow for digital expressions of cultural values to flourish in a socially connected space.