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Research Report: Search Engines (RS-03) - Research - Victoria Online Project: Final Report

November 2001

Executive Summary

Introduction

The Victorian Online Gateway portal project is an initiative of Multimedia Victoria, in conjunction with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, to develop a new vision for a single online entry-point for Victorian citizens, business and community.

Aim of Gateway project

The aim of the Gateway project is to research, define and build a new portal website, raising awareness of the wide range of new government information and services available online. The portal will also provide connections to a range of resources that will continue to be delivered through more traditional channels.

Portal vision

The project aims to produce a world's-best-practice portal which lifts Victoria to the next level of integrated online service delivery. The portal should demonstrate the new e-Government and e-democracy vision, with a single access window incorporating services from all three levels of Government, together with relevant business and community resources.

Purpose of this document

The purpose of this paper is to document the results of research in order to recommend the search engine, tools and metadata approach (ie. not be product specific). The solution should:

• ensure best "discoverability" within the portal for information/services (resources) across three levels of government (Local, State and Federal) as well as business and community links;
• offer transparency in multi-indexing solutions that provide discoverability, e.g. text and metadata searching;
• be feasible and practical to establish and maintain; and
• offer best discoverability of the portal by major search engines.

Research dates

The majority of the research was undertaken from August to October 2001.

Significant recommendations

In assessing the key findings of this report, the most significant recommendations are as follows:

Approach

To improve the discoverability of resources through the Victorian Government Online Gateway, the Gateway be implemented to comply with the Commonwealth Government GOVERNET framework. The Gateway will, therefore, be one of the Victorian Key Service Points (KSPs).

Information Architecture

• An Information Architecture be designed and developed which includes the development of an effective taxonomy and metadata data model.
• The Gateway adopt a policy of decentralised metadata authoring with centralised metadata management, quality control and augmentation.

Human Resources

• An Information Manager/Architect be appointed immediately to develop the Online Gateway Information Architecture.
• Every department; agency and local government is requested to identify an officer who will fulfil the role and responsibilities of the metadata manager.

Technology and Tools

• The Victorian Government Online Gateway adopt a toolset that supports a hybrid approach to metadata authoring with metadata entries being created and maintained from both central and/or remote locations as well as harvesting other external repository metadata.
• A stable and scalable IT infrastructure (or service) be in place to support a development, testing and production environments. Movement of software and data between the environments to be undertaken with operational change control procedures.

Planning

Further detailed planning of the tasks and actions identified within this report are undertaken. Particularly those identified in the Timeline (see page 61 of the full report).

Collaboration

Discussions continue with the other jurisdictions and internationally in relation to the development of the gateway.

Continuing Research

Further emerging search methods, search models, metadata and W3C standards and approaches be assessed as part of the ongoing information architecture role.

Additional recommendations

Section B of this document (see page 39 of the full report) contains a detailed breakdown of recommendations and action items arising from the research presented.

Rationale for recommendations

The rationale for the recommendations within this report are based upon the following key principals:-

Approach

• Using a metadata driven approach is 'best practice' in the area of portal implementation and allows for the widest coverage of resources.
• The GOVERNET framework is already established. It makes sense to utilise the interoperability of the framework to access a growing range of Federal and State resources. It is critical to not "re-invent the wheel".
• It is important for the gateway to be built with flexibility and scalability in mind to support future requirements.
• There is already a wealth of online resources available, so it is important to provide a catalogue to these resources and not duplicate content.

Human Resources and Training

• There is a critical role of human resources within the process.
• Education and training of metadata authors is a key factor in the ultimate discovery of resources from the gateway.
• Establishment and maintenance of relationships with resource owner/custodians across government to make these easily available at the appropriate level of granularity.

Organisation

The design, development and implementation of the gateway will require the significant coordination across the differing components of the gateway as well as the resource provider base.

An analogy

When libraries were first established they contained the books of the day, arranged in shelves. These books were valuable, having been painstakingly authored with quill and pen. People visited to read and research their particular topic areas. Discovery was by walking around and finding the particular area of the library that contained books of interest.

Improvements in technology happened over time and the volume of new books produced grew at an incredible rate. Libraries had to deal with an ever increasing number of books which spanned an ever increasing subject areas. Discovery, by walking around, was getting more difficult.

The innovation of the day was to create a library catalogue of the material available. The catalogue was designed to provide multiple ways of finding the book, by subject, topic, author, date etc. Initially this was produced in a card index and then over time computerised. Library staff came to realise that their skill was in helping the customer find the resource that they required, even if they were not sure what they wanted.

The requirement to provide discovery to government information and services is not so different.

Conclusion

Even with the challenges faced in the implementation of a GOVERNET compliant metadata driven resource KSP, it seems that this approach offers the best platform for the delivery of a flexible, scalable and interoperable Online Gateway.

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Report

It is the intention of the Victorian Online Gateway project team to make available individual report findings and recommendations for appropriate use by other government organisations. Materials may be downloaded and printed with applicable copyright and other notices included. Any other use including copying, modifying, displaying or transmitting of the content of these reports requires the prior written permission of the Executive Director of Multimedia Victoria.

The Search Engines/Metadata Discoverability report is available in pdf format (691kb) (this document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). The report is also available in word97 format (2.18mb)

The Search Engines/Metadata Discoverability presentation to the Expert Group on 22 November 2001 is available as a powerpoint97 presentation (522kb)

Last updated: 28 February 2006

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