Metadata and Multilingualism: The Case of Access to Scientific data and Information

Raed M. Sharif, The School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, USA

Digital divide is not only the inequality between the “haves” and “have- nots” in terms of access to technology and the content of digital networks , it’s also a linguistic divide and inequality , as the languages used on the Web are not those most widely spoken among the “have-nots”. This position has always been supported by UNESCO and other international organizations, and was clearly addressed in Tunis Agenda, which emphasized the commitment to work towards multilingualization of the Internet as part of a multilateral, transparent, and democratic process, involving governments and all stakeholders in their respective roles. Also, this was the main theme of the Joint UNESCO and ITU global symposium on promoting the multilingual Internet which was held in Geneva, 9-11 May 2006.

This linguistic inequality affects not only the regular Internet user, but also scientists and researchers in a large number of countries around the world, especially from the developing and least developed countries. Searching, locating, accessing, using, and reproducing scientific data that are available on the Web is still a challenge for scientists and researchers from these countries who don’t speak other languages than their indigenous language. Although the scientists and researchers in the developing countries are often the ones who may benefit the most from such access to the available scientific and other data, the language obstacles position them in a disadvantageous situation in which their benefits from this openness and availability of the data are not maximized.

Since the concept of metadata is built on the premise to make access to and the use of the available content on the Web easier, faster, and more sustainable (through the proper cataloging, organization, and presentation of the available content), multilingual metadata may be used as a mechanism to reduce language barriers to the scientific data access. Thus, special attention should be paid to multilingualism issues in the design and deployment of these metadata.

This presentation tries to identify some of the current efforts in the area of metadata design and development to reduce the language barriers in the access to and use of scientific data and information, and discusses some future actions and research that are needed to better study, and ultimately overcome, these obstacles.