Metadata lecture 1, intro
- 1. Metadata for Description and Retrieval of Online Resources University of Warsaw February 18, 2012 Richard Sapon-White 1
- 2. Overview Defining metadata The types of metadata Characteristics of metadata Functions of metadata Why is metadata important? 2
- 3. Defining Metadata Data about data??? “Metadata is information that describes content” – Assoc. of American Publishers “Data used to aid in the identification, description and location of networked electronic resources” – IFLA “Metadata is machine-understandable information about the Web or other things”--WWW Consortium 3
- 4. Font of All Knowledge (Wikipedia) The term metadata is ambiguous, as it is used for two fundamentally different concepts. Although the expression “data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about the data, because at design time the application contains no data. In this case the correct description would be "data about the containers of data". Descriptive metadata, on the other hand, is about individual instances of application data, the data content. In this case, a useful description would be "data about data content" or "content about content" thus metacontent. 4
- 5. Defining Metadata (cont.) Structured information about an information resource of any media type or format – Caplan Data that describe the attributes of a resource; characterize its relationships; support its discovery, management, and effective use; and exist in an electronic environment - Vellucci 5
- 6. From our textbook… Anne J. Gilliland (from intro. to Introduction to Metadata, ed. by Murtha Baca.): “…the sum total of what one can say about any information object at any level of aggregation. In this context, an information object is anything that can be addressed and manipulated as a discrete entity by a human being or an information system” 6
- 7. Examples of metadata MS Word file: Name, size, date of last modification, and type of file Catalog card Bibliographic record in MARC format Archival finding aid in EAD format Metadata embedded in a digitized photograph using Dublin Core 7
- 9. Descriptive metadata Purposes: Discovery Identification Selection 9
- 10. Descriptive metadata (cont.) Other functions: Evaluation – reviews, ratings Linkage – relationship to other resources Usability – data that enables or enhances the ability to use the resource (e.g., required hardware, structure of a dataset) 10
- 11. Descriptive metadata (cont.) • Cataloging records • Finding aids • Specialized indexes • Annotations by creators and users 11
- 12. Administrative metadata Facilitates the management of electronic objects, such as: When or how an object was created Acquisition information Location information Who may have access to an object and who controls that access Restrictions on use 12
- 13. Administrative metadata (cont.) Example: Archival collection notes: only open to researchers with written letters of introduction Archival staff must approve access When and how digital reproductions were created Example: Guide to the Thomas Charles Power papers (N 13
- 14. Preservation Metadata Information related to the preservation management of digital resources May include: Condition of original resource before digitization Actions taken to preserve the original or digitized resource 14
- 15. Technical Metadata Describes how a system functions or how metadata behaves Examples: Technical details of the digitization process: scanning density, date of scanning, compression ratios, hardware and software used Authentication and security data 15
- 16. Use Metadata Information related to the level and type of use of the information resource Examples: Circulation data Search logs Rights metadata Use and user tracking 16
Editor's Notes
- #2: Warning: I may do a lot of the talking today, but that won’t always be the case
- #3: How many of you know the term metadata? What does it mean to you? (write on board)
- #4: Data about data – too vague IFLA def.- only for describing electronic resources? Since many electronic resources were originally print or artifactual (a physical object), would the data describing the physical object not be metadata, but the description of the electronic would? AAP definition includes metadata that is not in electronic form itself WWW Consortium: very restrictive – both the metadata and the object described are electronic in nature
- #6: Caplan – 1. Must be structured, not random; recorded according to a documented scheme 2. Must describe an info resource (but doesn’t define what that means) Vellucci – acknowledges that no metadata schemes accomplish all of these goals; again, electronic environment is mentioned as the place where the metadata exists, not necessarily the described resource; many focus on discovery and retrieval, not the kind of description that traditional cataloging provides Vellucci: metadata is a term common to librarianship, computer scientists, and information specialists (broader than the term “cataloging or bibliographic data”
- #10: (All metadata is descriptive, really) Discovery = finding a resource Identification=distinguishing between resources Selection=determining that a resource fills a particular need
- #11: Linkage may include other editions/translations/abridgements/versions or digital content may be derived from physical objects. These can all be expressed via descriptive metadata. When relationship is expressed with another resource that is itself electronic, the linkage can include a direct link to that related resource.
- #12: Most of the metadata in these records, etc., is descriptive
- #13: While there is overlap with descriptive metadata, administrative metadata is often of importance primarily to staff, not users.