GOOD PRACTICE FORM FOR NOMINATIONS

We propose to start the activity of the workgroup on 'good practice' proposing an initial set of some main areas where to put the nominations. In particular we think to start with the basic issue of digitisation itself.
Each project can be 'nominated' for more than one area, following your evaluation of the most important features contained in the example.

AREAS for nominations of 'good practice' for on-going projects on digitisation:
1.	Preservation of physical objects via digitisation and electronic surrogates.
2.	High quality of the digitisation process.
3.	Metadata and Thesaurus.
4.	Usability of project results.
5.	Management of the process and workflow
6.	Accessibility including copyright issues and web sites

For each project please specify:

•	Area of 'good practice' where you like to nominate your project (you can put more than only one area): 
Ad 2

•	Name:
METADATA ENGINE

•	Responsible body and/or any specific :
Co-ordinating body/mechanism:
University of Innsbruck + consortium of 14 partners

•	Contact person:
Günter Mühlberger

•	Web site:
http://meta-e.uibk.ac.at/

•	Description of the project, objectives and priorities:

The METAe engine is a generic software package which provides the necessary functions for organising the workflow of the conversion process: Scanning or batch import of image files, image pre-processing, binarisation of greyscale and colour zones into b/w, free configuration of an XML output file, etc. Moreover the engine might run on a single workstation or on a network of servers. The workflow might be configured as a step-by-step process or as a series of batch processes with clearly defined quality control mechanisms, - just to mention two opportunities of many.

•	The main technical features for what you consider the project a 'good practice' example:

The METAe engine is a generic software package which provides the necessary functions for organising the workflow of the conversion process: Scanning or batch import of image files, image pre-processing, binarisation of greyscale and colour zones into b/w, free configuration of an XML output file, etc. Moreover the engine might run on a single workstation or on a network of servers. The workflow might be configured as a step-by-step process or as a series of batch processes with clearly defined quality control mechanisms, - just to mention two opportunities of many.

The innovative heart of the METAe engine is a generic rules database which allows the automatic zoning, extraction and labelling of elements and structures of printed material. This includes the extraction of basic structural metadata such as text zones and graphical zones, but also sophisticated metadata such as page numbers, headlines, caption lines, and footnotes. Moreover the engine will understand the structural hierarchy of documents, such as front, body, back or chapters, sub-chapters, paragraphs, or volumes, issues and contributions, also to mention just a few of the opportunities to label the hierarchical levels of printed material. The intelligent conversion layer is completed with a graphical interface for correction and with OCR engines in the background. Though the METAe engine focuses on books and journals every kind of document can be processed - as long as there are recognizable regularities in the original documents.

•	Long term sustainability strategy:

The extracted and labelled data will be assembled in an XML output file which will be formed according to the METS guidelines. The METS standard which is hosted by the Library of Congress will allow libraries to integrate the converted material with a minimum of effort into their document management systems or their digital library websites. Moreover METS will provide a good basis for further digital preservation strategies.

•	Accessibility by users via local network or Internet (describe modalities and IPR issue from a technical point of view):

The project provides the technical pre-requisites for efficient and highly automated conversion of printed material.

•	Problems encountered :

Comments: 

Figures and documents enclosed:

METAe Project Flyer

I agree this information could be published/

                            X Yes
                               No

Organisation & person completing the questionnaire

•	Formal name of organisation:
University of Innsbruck

•	Type of organisation:
University 

•	Field of action:	Archive / Library / Museum / Foundation / others ….
Library / Digital Library Research

•	Address:
Innrain 52
6020 Innsbruck

•	Name of director:
Dr. Martin Wieser

•	Name and role of person completing the questionnaire:
Coordinator of the project

•	Tel: ++43-512-507-9053

•	Fax: ++43-512-507-2607

•	Web site: http://www.uibk.ac.at/

•	E-mail:
Guenter.muehlberger@uibk.ac.at

Date:
April 2002