New Review of Information Networking, 14:102–116, 2008
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1361-4576 print / 1740-7869 online
DOI: 10.1080/13614570903359423
102
RINN1361-4576740 7869New Review of Information Networking, Vol. 14, No. 2, Oct 2009: pp. 0–0
BRIDGING REPOSITORIES TO FORM THE
MACE EXPERIENCE
The MACE ExperienceM. Wolpers et al. MARTIN WOLPERS
Fraunhofer FIT, Germany
MARTIN MEMMEL
DFKI GmbH, Germany
JORIS KLERKX, GONZALO PARRA, BRAM VANDEPUTTE,
and ERIK DUVAL
K. U. Leuven, Belgium
RAFAEL SCHIRRU
DFKI GmbH, Germany
KATJA NIEMANN
Fraunhofer FIT, Germany
This paper reports on our experiences in bridging learning repositories on archi-
tecture within the MACE system. In order to make access to architectural learn-
ing resources simple and easy for students and teachers, we rely heavily on
standards. We discuss the concepts behind the MACE system, describe related
problems, and how we solve them by employing and modifying standards from
the computer science and architecture. By bringing together numerous heteroge-
neous repositories, combining and relating metadata of their learning resources
and incorporating social community support, we enable open access while still
respecting organizational and legislative issues of all participating repositories.
1. Introduction
Developed within the European project Metadata for Architec-
tural Contents in Europe (MACE1) the MACE system and portal
support open access to learning resources in the domain of archi-
tecture, specifically in higher education. The MACE system
Address correspondence to Martin Wolpers, Fraunhofer Institut für Angewandte
Informationstechnik FIT Schloss, Birlinghoven, 53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany. E-mail:
martin.wolpers@fit.fraunhofer.de
1http://www.mace-project.eu

The MACE Experience 103
focuses on the need of architecture education to have simple and
reliable access to vast amounts of information about architecture,
used mainly for inspirational purposes (Beckmann; Condotta and
Del Ponte) and within courses.
In order to relieve students and teachers from the burden of
browsing through numerous isolated repositories and dealing
with redundant content, new forms of visually based discovery
mechanisms for access to learning material (Marchionini) are
needed. The MACE system therefore aims to extend common
approaches for simple keyword search, navigation, and result link
presentation with advanced methods like image and location
based search and classification browsing. Such advanced methods
of access require rich information about the learning resources.
The MACE system bridges repositories that provide different
facets and aspects of architecture learning resources in highly
heterogeneous ways. Examples of such repositories are the
Dynamo repository2 providing information about architectural
projects or the ICONDA3 repository providing access to legislative
documents important to building construction and design. These
repositories are used to demonstrate the feasibility of the
approach. As the MACE system is open, further repositories are
continuously added. Details are found on the MACE homepage.
By automatically (using the real-world object approach
described in 4.1) and manually (using collective intelligence and a
group of architecture experts) linking related architecture learn-
ing resources of various non-related repositories with each other,
we establish explicit relations among them within the MACE sys-
tem and across repositories. The relations are then used to enable
new, simple, and unified access to architectural learning resources
scattered throughout repositories world-wide. Consequently, users
are provided with the ability to discover new learning resources
that can serve as additional sources of inspiration.
Furthermore, the MACE system incorporates social software
to draw on the capabilities of architecture communities within
the MACE portal. Users are able to annotate learning resources
with tags, comments, and ratings, build up personal portfolios,
and contribute new learning resources. In addition, user activities
2http://dynamo.asro.kuleuven.be/dynamovi/
3http://www.iconda.org/