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DTES RESEARCH
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Enhancing the DTES RAP collection at the MRAi Metadata-thon
As part of our newly launched News section, we’re bringing you stories that share the history of the Downtown Eastside Research Access Portal (DTES RAP). A version of this article was originally posted August 13, 2019 on the Supporting Transparent & Open Research Engagement & Exchange (STOREE) Project website as “Geeking out with a cause at the MRAi Metadata-thon”. The STOREE Project aims to support community- and university-led initiatives targeted at increasing the accessibility of research. They are frequent partners with the Making Research Accessible initiative and have collaborated on the creation of the DTES RAP.
Heather O’Brien
Associate Professor
UBC iSchool
In June 2019, more than 20 academic and public library staff, community members, and UBC graduate students and faculty gathered at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Harbour Centre to “geek out” with a cause. Inspired by Wikipedia edit-a-thons, hackathons, and research sprints, the group came together in support of the DTES RAP.
Image by Zachary Foote. Used with permission.
Fuelled by coffee and the promise of chocolate and other products from the local DTES community for the winning teams, groups of participants worked on applying and critiquing a metadata scheme to articles and reports housed in the DTES RAP. Metadata include the title, author, topic, format and other information about content. Without metadata, people who use online search systems cannot locate information. During the day, participants raced to add over 200 new items to the DTES RAP and described 150 existing items. The Metadata-thon demonstrated the power of the collective to advance its goals of providing a rich and diverse portal to information relevant to the DTES community, and making materials easy to locate in the collection.
Equally important was the impact on the participants, who appreciated the opportunity to think more deeply about the role of research and “metadata in action”. One participant asked, “Are we considering that persons who have been the subject of research are part of our user community, and…how they would want to access those materials?” MRAi aims to address these important questions with the DTES RAP, launched in March 2020.
The event, which took place June 12, 2019, was organized by STOREE collaborators Heather De Forest (SFU) and Aleha McCauley (UBC), and UBC Library and iSchool student Zachary Foote, supported by the Community-based Research Coordinator at the UBC Learning Exchange, Heather Holroyd.
Heather O’Brien is Associate Director at the School of Information. She is the Principal Investigator of the Supporting Transparent and Open Research for Engagement and Exchange (STOREE) Project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, and a member of the MRAi Steering Committee. She was an enthusiastic participant at the metadata-a-thon, and is grateful to the organizers for bringing people together to help make university and community research more accessible.
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Do you have questions or feedback about this article? Do you have an idea for the news section? Please reach out to Community Engagement Librarian Nick Ubels at nick.ubels@ubc.ca
