D-Lib Magazine article on "NSDL MatDL"

[Robin Cover <robin@oasis-open.org>]

The following article [1] may be of interest to the members
of this Technical Committee.  I may create a story for
the Cover Pages about the NSDL MatDL project [2]; if anyone has
relevant information, please send email.

Thanks,

Robin Cover

[1] "NSDL MatDL: Exploring Digital Library Roles"

By Laura M. Bartolo, Cathy S. Lowe, Donald R. Sadoway,
Adam C. Powell, and Sharon C. Glotzer
D-Lib Magazine
March 2005
Volume 11 Number 3
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march05/bartolo/03bartolo.html

[2] http://matdl.org/

[3] "NSDL MatDL" article abstract:

A primary goal of the NSDL Materials Digital Library (MatDL)
is to bring materials science research and education closer
together. MatDL is exploring the various roles digital
libraries can serve in the materials science community
including: 1) supporting a virtual lab, 2) developing markup
language applications, and 3) building tools for metadata
capture. MatDL is being integrated into an MIT virtual
laboratory experience. Early student self-assessment survey
results expressed positive opinions of the potential value of
MatDL in supporting a virtual lab and in accomplishing
additional educational objectives. A separate survey suggested
that the effectiveness of a virtual lab may approach that of
a physical lab on some laboratory learning objectives. MatDL
is collaboratively developing a materials property grapher
(KSU and MIT) and a submission tool (KSU and U-M). MatML is
an extensible markup language for exchanging materials
information developed by materials data experts in industry,
government, standards organizations, and professional societies.
The web-based MatML grapher allows students to compare selected
materials properties across approximately 80 MatML-tagged
materials. The MatML grapher adds value in this educational
context by allowing students to utilize real property data to
make optimal material selection decisions. The submission tool
has been integrated into the regular workflow of U-M students
and researchers generating nanostructure images. It prompts
users for domain-specific information, automatically generating
and attaching keywords and editable descriptions.

Robin Cover
XML Cover Pages
http://xml.coverpages.org/