A description framework for digital public services

Abstract

Service description frameworks and relevant metadata appear as a key enabler that assists management of resources related to the provision of personalized, efficient and proactive services oriented towards the real citizens' needs. As different authorities typically use different terms to describe their resources and publish them in various Digital Service Registries that may enhance the access to and delivery of governmental knowledge, but also need to communicate seamlessly at a national and pan-European level, the need for a unified digital public service metadata standard emerges. This paper presents the creation of an ontology-based extended metadata set that embraces services, documents, XML Schemas, code lists, public bodies and information systems. Such a metadata set formalizes the exchange of information between portals and registries and assists the service transformation and simplification efforts, while it can be further taken into consideration when applying Web 2.0 techniques in governance. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.