WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 1 A project of the Introduction to Metadata Working with Data about Data Dot Porter, DHO Metadata Manager 10 March 2009

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 2 What is metadata? Metadata is… data about data! (from the Greek preposition μετά meaning "after” or "with”) Basically, metadata is any kind of information that describes something else. In the context of today’s workshop, Metadata is descriptive information about digital resources: individual files collections of files (or: relationships among files) complete projects (or: relationships among files and collections)

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 3 What is metadata? In the context of today’s workshop, Metadata is descriptive information about digital resources: individual files collections of files complete projects Metadata may describe (e.g.) the content of a photograph the photograph itself the digital version of that same photograph the relationship between that photograph and other photographs or texts, etc. We’ll come back to this!

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 4 Why metadata? Digitization does not equal access. The mere act of creating digital copies of collection materials does not make those materials findable, understandable, or utilizable to our ever- expanding audience of online users. But digitization combined with the creation of carefully crafted metadata can significantly enhance end-user access; and our users are the primary reason that we create digital resources.” “Hardware and software come and go—sometimes becoming obsolete with alarming rapidity—but high-quality, standards-based, system-independent metadata can be used, reused, migrated, and disseminated in any number of ways, even in ways that we cannot anticipate at this moment. Digitization does not equal access. The mere act of creating digital copies of collection materials does not make those materials findable, understandable, or utilizable to our ever- expanding audience of online users. But digitization combined with the creation of carefully crafted metadata can significantly enhance end-user access; and our users are the primary reason that we create digital resources.” From the “Introduction” to Introduction to Metadata, Online Edition, Version 3.0 “Hardware and software come and go—sometimes becoming obsolete with alarming rapidity—but high-quality, standards-based, system-independent metadata can be used, reused, migrated, and disseminated in any number of ways, even in ways that we cannot anticipate at this moment.

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 5 Different ways of thinking about metadata Authoritative vs. user-created Different types of metadata to describe various aspects of the same thing Ontologies, taxonomies, vocabularies Metadata standards and formats More about DHO recommendations this afternoon!

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 6 Authoritative metadata AKA ‘top-down’ Created by project team Formalized; focus on control Specialists in (at least one aspect of) the field Focus and coverage will depend on the requirements of the project and repository

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 7 User-created metadata AKA ‘bottom-up’ Social tagging May be open or within a community Less focused; what the “tagging public” sees Generally less structured, not prescriptive 7 April 2009: Introduction to Semantic Web

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 8 Types of metadata Descriptive: Facilitates discovery and describes intellectual content Administrative: Facilitates management of digital and analog resources Technical: Describes the technical aspects of the digital object Structural: Describes the relationships within a digital object Preservation: Supports long-term retention of the digital object and may overlap with technical, administrative, and structural metadata From Best Practice Guidelines for Digital Collections at University of Maryland Libraries, edited by Susan Schreibman

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 9 Types of metadata Descriptive: Facilitates discovery and describes intellectual content Administrative: Facilitates management of digital and analog resources Technical: Describes the technical aspects of the digital object Structural: Describes the relationships within a digital object Preservation: Supports long-term retention of the digital object and may overlap with technical, administrative, and structural metadata From Best Practice Guidelines for Digital Collections at University of Maryland Libraries, edited by Susan Schreibman

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 10 Descriptive metadata It is always necessary to differentiate between the description of… Content Source (if there is one!) Digital file/object For born-digital objects, the digital object is the source

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 11 Content: a painting a sculpture a text a building Source: paper photograph of a painting or a building sketch of a sculpture a manuscript, containing a text Digital file/object: scan or digital photo of a paper photograph scan or digital photo of a sketch of a sculpture scan or digital photo of a manuscript born-digital photo of a building microfilm of a manuscript that is itself scanned… both manuscript and microfilm are “source” No “source” – digital image is taken directly

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 12 Administrative metadata Facilitates management of files Describes the creation/derivation of files – Responsible Individuals and institutions – Dates – Locations Technical specifications (e.g., file size, file format)

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 13 Structural metadata Describes/defines relationships between and among files AKA describing collections AKA describing projects Identifying what collection or project a file belongs to Identifying what files belong to which collection or project Identifying what project a collection belongs to Relationships are usually, but need not be, 1:1

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 14 Ontologies, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies Controlled vocabulary: a list of terms Taxonomy: a collection of controlled vocabulary terms organized into a hierarchical structure Ontology: a formal representation of a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between these concepts

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 15 Ontologies, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies Concepts separate from format Created by scholarly communities, learned bodies, projects, etc. Whenever possible, use what is available

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 16 Controlled vocabulary Controlled list of explicitly enumerated terms Unambiguous definitions for each term 1.If the same term is commonly used to mean different concepts in different contexts, then its name is explicitly qualified to resolve this ambiguity. 2. If multiple terms are used to mean the same thing, one of the terms is identified as the preferred term in the controlled vocabulary and the other terms are listed as synonyms or aliases. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Language Subtag Registry ( assignments/language -subtag-registry)

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 17 Taxonomy Controlled vocabulary, hierarchical structure Terms in parent-child relationships with one another

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 18 Ontology Similar to a taxonomy (terms are sometimes interchanged), the difference is philosophical An Ontology is developed to reason about a domain, and may be used to define a domain CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model ( r/) Represents the concepts that make up a domain Controlled vocabulary Hierarchical

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 19 Metadata standards and formats The first questions of metadata: What do we want to describe? How to we want to describe it? Using accepted standards, expressed in widely-used or easily mapped formats, will ensure that our metadata is accessible.

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 20 Metadata standards Standards are widely-used (hence standard) prescriptive recommendations guiding – Defining fields: “name” “title” “identifier” “subject” “physicalDescription” “location” – Structure and hierarchy within the metadata itself – Controlled vocabularies

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 21 Metadata formats Extensible Markup Language (XML) – Allows for combining and interoperability – XML flexibility Any other conceivable format – MS Word? PDF? Post-it notes? – Excel, FileMaker Pro, Access DB, CSV

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 22 In some but not all cases, the semantics of metadata is separate from the format of metadata Identifier: Creator: Howard Besser Creator: Jennifer Trant Title: Introduction to Imaging: Issues in Constructing an Image Database Publisher: The Getty Art History Information Program Date: 1995 Subject: Image processing—Digital techniques

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 23 Metadata mapping Moving metadata from one standard/format to another standard/format Not always pretty…

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 24 Metadata mapping Moving metadata from one standard/format to another standard/format Not always pretty… Important: base the design of your project metadata on an existing standard, and plan it out ahead of time!

WORKING WITH DATA ABOUT DATA: Introduction to Metadata | Ms Dot Porter| slide 25 How much is enough? Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to use it! Standards are great! Open Access (not magic, a bit scary, but very useful) ROBUST YOUR NEEDS ARE NOT NECESSARILY EVERYONE ELSE’S – AND THAT IS OKAY!