Meta Tagging / Metadata Lindsay Berard Assisted by: Li Li

Research Question Meta Tagging Slide 1 of 20 Define and describe state of the art meta tagging technologies with, at a minimum a full outline of the Dublin Core proposal. Describe how meta tagging should be implemented to create new value in the online information enterprise.

Definitions Meta Tagging Slide 2 of 20 Metadata: data that describes other data, can describe what a document is, how it was created, how it should be used, and much more Meta tagging: a convention used to store metadata, usually embedded in an HTML document between head tags and hidden from users Both describe content of pages in machine readable form Example of a meta tag:

Meta Tagging – Past Use Meta Tagging Slide 3 of 20 Meta tags used to be mainly used for search engine optimization, the tags “keyword” and “description” were used by search engines to index pages Due to people abusing the “keyword” meta tag, it has become pretty useless and most search engines no longer look at it “Keyword” and “Description” can still be useful for internal search

Metadata Future – The Semantic Web Meta Tagging Slide 4 of 20 Metadata is one of the backbones of the Semantic Web One of the key features of the SW is to have software agents that can basically use the web for you In order for this to work, these software agents must be able to read and understand the content of web pages, and recognize relationships between data Metadata allows this to work

How to get to the Semantic Web Meta Tagging Slide 5 of 20 People need to start using metadata when they create web pages, so that computers can understand the information within these pages – this is going to take a lot of work at first However, this process also needs to be easy – otherwise they won’t do it For example, people enjoy tagging photos on Flickr or articles on Digg because it is so simple Implementing metadata on one’s web site must be as easy as this, and users must know the reason behind the work they are doing

Ways to Use Metadata Meta Tagging Slide 6 of 20 Can either: Put metadata in XHTML metatags Put metadata in separate RDF page and link it to the XHTML Put metadata in a separate XML page and link it to the XHTML In the future – we will be moving away from putting the metadata right within the XHTML page, because there will need to be so many tags and so much metadata, and it will be cleaner if in a separate document (kind of like separating design from content with CSS)

Five Types of Metadata Meta Tagging Slide 7 of 20 Descriptive: helps end user, describes content of the page Administrative: helps with the management of the page Technical: specifications such as file size, format Structural: defines relationships between other objects Preservative: details how the page should be maintained in the future

Levels of Metadata Meta Tagging Slide 8 of 20 Determining how granular metadata should be is essential It will determine how a page or object can be found or searched, and also describe relationships between objects All objects using metadata must at least meet a minimum standard of detail, the level of granularity beyond this will vary from project to project

Effective Metadata Meta Tagging Slide 9 of 20 To be effective, there must be a universal standard which uses a controlled vocabulary Example: mediaType could be “photo”, “image”, “picture”, “photograph” – there needs to be a controlled vocabulary so that everyone is describing things in the same way Without a controlled vocabulary, objects created by different users will never be able to interact or relate to one another

Metadata Standards Meta Tagging Slide 10 of 20 Standards are also needed for the tags themselves Example: to describe the person who created the object you could use the tags “author”, “creator”, “writer” There needs to be a standard so that objects across the web can interact with one another Which standard should you use?

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative - Background Meta Tagging Slide 11 of 20 Actually in Dublin, Ohio – not Ireland Some great minds met and started talking about semantics and the web at the International World Wide Web Conference in 1994 Combination of people in the industry and involved with OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) and NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) Even in 1994 they realized how hard it was to find resources and relate them to one another NCSA and OCLA held a workshop together to discuss metadata and semantics in Dublin, Ohio in 1995 – DCMI was born!

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Meta Tagging Slide 12 of 20 Part of the push towards the semantic web Believe that computers need to know what pages MEAN in order to provide users with what we want and need DCMI is a system that provides a way to catalog objects on the web Look pretty much the same as regular metatags but are much more conformed – they use standard formats and a controlled vocabulary For example subject must be a category from the Library of Congress

DCMI – Core Elements Meta Tagging Slide 13 of 20 Publisher Relation Rights Source Subject Title Type Contributor Coverage Creator Date Description Format Identifier Language

DCMI – Element Recommendation Meta Tagging Slide 14 of 20

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Meta Tagging Slide 15 of 20 The DCMI tags actually try to describe the content as opposed to usual way of using keywords and meta tagging DCMI has come up with a set of 15 core metadata elements, and provide recommendations on their use Example of a DCMI meta tag (to be used in an HTML page): Also see: Can either manually add DCMI metadata, or use one of the many generators that have been created Example: Dublin Core Meta Tag Generator:

NewsML Meta Tagging Slide 16 of 20 There are MANY metadata standards out there right now – which creates a problem because they are not generally interoperable NewsML: an extremely complex XML standard for describing news and all of its components (standards > 200 pages!) started by Reuters, then passed on to the International Press Telecommunications Council great for news organizations to transfer news documents and have them be described in great detail – however the learning curve to use NewsML is quite steep

Metadata and Newshouse Meta Tagging Slide 17 of 20 Newshouse must have a metadata standard to follow Should create a Metadata Standards Document to explain which standard to follow and how to use metadata – whether it be within the XHTML document it self or linked via RDF or XML Creating a metadata generator that complies with the Newshouse standards would be extremely helpful to those using the site Simple interface where the user just inputs fields or selects from drop downs