Technical Researcher

I am a technical researcher, working within the areas of interest to the Eduserv Research Programme (formerly the Eduserv Foundation) in its mission to support the education community.

My recent work has been principally in the areas of metadata/resource description, repositories and technical interoperability, mainly in the context of higher education, with a particular interest in the use of Semantic Web technologies and the emergence of the "Linked Data" approach.

I participate in a number of standards development activities, and seek to engage with relevant communities (mainly in the higher education sector) in order to gather inputs to that work and to disseminate its outcomes.

I am a contributor to the work of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and am currently a member of the DCMI Usage Board and the DCMI Advisory Board. I am a co-author of several DCMI Recommendations, including the DCMI Abstract Model. I was previously chair of the DCMI Collection Description Working Group.

I was a member of the Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI ORE) project Technical Committee, and a co-editor of the ORE specifications.

I also write about my current work and related items of interest to me on the eFoundations weblog, the authorship of which I share with Andy Powell.

I joined Eduserv in May 2006, and prior to that I worked as a Research Officer at UKOLN, University of Bath, where I advised the UK higher and further education and library, museum and archive communities on strategies for the effective exchange and reuse of information.

Lists of my recent publications and presentations are available. A short version of this biography, for use in e.g. event programmes, is also provided.

Committee Membership

I am a member of the following UK or international committees or working groups:

• IMLS Digital Collections and Content Advisory Board (member) (2008 - )
• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Usage Board (member) (2007 - )
• Names project Expert Panel (member) (2007 - )
• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Advisory Board (member) (2003 - )

I have previously been a member of the following:

• Program Committee for DC-2009: Semantic Interoperability of Linked Data (member) (2009)
• Program Committee for MTSR'09: the third International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research (member) (2009)
• JISC Repositories, Preservation and Access Management Advisory Group (member) (2007 - 2009)
• Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE) Technical Committee (member) (2006-2008)
• Program Committee for DC-2008: Metadata for Semantic and Social Applications (member) (2008)
• JISC Images DC Application Profile Working Group (member) (2007-2008)
• Program Committee for DC-2007: Application Profiles: Theory and Practice (member) (2007)
• Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College (2005-2007)
• JISC ePrints (Scholarly Works) DC Application Profile Working Group (member) (2006)
• UK eGovernment Metadata Technical Working Group (member) (2004-2006)
• Dublin Core Collection Description Working Group (chair) (2002-2006)
• JISC PALS Metadata and Interoperability Group (member) (2005-2006)
• Program Committee for DC-2005: Vocabularies in Practice (member) (2005)
• NISO Metasearch Initiative Task Group 2 (member) (2004-2005)
• Program Committee for DC-2003: Supporting Communities of Discourse and Practise: Metadata Research and Applications (2003)
• Conference Track Review Committee for DC-2002: Metadata for e-Communities: Supporting Diversity and Convergence (2002)