STERNA - Semantic Web-based Thematic European Reference Network Application is a best practice network that is funded through the European eContentplus Programme. STERNA serves as a showcase for using semantic web technologies and standards to link, search and access content from distributed and heterogeneous databases from European organisations of different type and size.
About STERNA
The project started in June 2008 and was concluded at the end of 2010. STERNA is comprised of 13 European organisations, including research institutes, natural history organisations and technical. Birds and bird-related information are the main focus of the STERNA digital library. The STERNA approach strives at providing cultural and scientific heritage institutions (especially smaller ones) with the opportunity to make their digital collections accessible in a light-weight fashion. This has been achieved by setting up a distributed digital library based on semantic web technologies and standards. Within this distributed architecture, organisations can contribute, enrich and interlink their metadata in an autonomous, self-directed way without the need to heavily invest in the technical infrastructure. In addition, partners do not have to change their existing databases, data structures and in-house workflows, but instead can keep and maintain their established data structures. The main method in which the semantic interlinking of the diverse range of collections is achieved in STERNA, is that all partners use the multilingual ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) list of scientific and common names for bird species to describe their content. By using concepts from the same taxonomy, the content items from different partners about the same birds are connected. Furthermore, since the ITIS list is multilingual, search queries can be performed in various languages. Four STERNA search portals have been developed for various target user groups (younger users, bird watchers, tourists and boaters at sea and general users).
Evaluation
The STERNA project has been evaluated by Sound & Vision’s R&D department from the perspective of the content partners. The results are now available in the final report (download here). For the evaluation, a survey was held among the content partners, and interviews were held with seven experts with a broad range of relevant expertise. The outcomes of the evaluation have shown that STERNA indeed successfully reached its objective of offering a light-weight approach to join a semantic digital library initiative, especially for smaller organisations. In total, the total time spent on STERNA by small organisations did not differ significantly from the larger ones. This includes working with the architecture and other technological aspects of the project. Also, the small partners did not have more trouble with the STERNA tasks than the large ones – the difficulty level they experienced was mostly medium or even (very) easy. An added benefit of participating indicated by the partners is that the new expertise and skills that their staff had to acquire for STERNA can be used for other purposes in their organisation. Most importantly, STERNA brought the opportunity to achieve goals that they could not consider previously. For instance, since almost all the partners had to adjust their metadata for the project, one of the main benefits reported was that STERNA has been a catalyst for enriching and improving the metadata within their organisations. One small partner even stated that the reference structure and metadata they created for participating in STERNA will be used for their entire digital database. In the end, all partners answered positively when asked whether the benefits of joining STERNA outweigh the costs, especially since the skills and experience gained during the project can be used for other purposes besides participation in the STERNA network. The initial objectives of the project have been accomplished. It is now up to the consortium to ensure that the STERNA initiative is continued and that improvements are made through which the STERNA approach can be enhanced even further. More in-depth evaluation results, information on the minimum level of capacity (e.g. technical infrastructure, expertise/skills) an organisation needs to have and the minimum additional efforts (activities/costs) an organisation needs to invest in order to participate in the STERNA network can be found in the final evaluation report. If you would like further information on the project, or if you are interested in becoming a partner, please visit the project website.