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AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HERITAGE CENTRE

Web Indexing Workshop - Future Directions

ITC, The University of Melbourne, Tuesday 11 July 2000, 9.30am - 4.30pm
Program | Introduction | Case Study One | Case Study Two | Future Directions

Future Directions and Future Effects
In this session we will look at some of the initiatives that are and should be shaping the Web. We will also draw some conclusions from today's workshop about what it takes to be a 'web indexer'.
Information Infrastructure | XML | So you want to be a Web indexer?
 
Information Infrastructure
  • Many initiatives - some have already been and gone, some survive and grow.

  • No 'one size fits all', no 'turn-key' solutions - nature of the resource determines the tools and approaches that are required.

  • Importance of an information model that is scalable and maintainable.

  • Indexing - gateway to the external web, as well as internal concepts. [ See Bright Sparcs Index to Technology in Australia ]

  • Encourage infrastructure that encourages two-way mapping

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XML - The Next Generation Web is coming!
  • HTML marks up text based on presentation - 
    <B>Technology in Australia</B>
    - instructs the web browser to display the text in Bold.

  • XML, eXtensible Markup Language marks up text based on structure - 
    <TITLE>Technology in Australia</TITLE>
    - a stylesheet provides instructions to the web browser on how to display the element.

  • DTDs, Document Type Definitions, define the structure of a document as a nested tree of structural tags. DTDs provide the rules to which an XML document of that type must conform.

  • Various communities are involved with the defining of DTDs for the document types they deal in.

  • User Interface - display, navigation, and search via structure [ See: SETIS, Cornell Institute for Digital Collections ]

  • It's coming - a bit slower uptake then predicted due to amount of investment in HTML, specification and standards still under development [ See: W3C ] and tools for creation, management and manipulation still in development phases.

  • Resources

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So you want to be a Web indexer?
  • Know the Web - be aware of the forces shaping it, know what makes an indexable resource.

  • Be a user - look for good and bad examples of indexing, keep track of the latest technological developments.

  • Know how to create HTML - if you like it look at the source to see how it is done, be able to mock up HTML pages.

  • Know about Web site design - what's good/what's bad, what works/what doesn't, a good index is useless unless it is compatible with the browser accessing it!

  • Know about search engines - and how you can add value to them!

  • Start looking at XML - what does it mean for indexing!

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© The University of Melbourne 2000. Disclaimer and Copyright Information. 
Created: July 2000
Last modified: 10 July 2000
Authorised by: Director, Austehc
Maintained by: Joanne Evans
Email: joanne@austehc.unimelb.edu.au