Metadata 101
 Introduction
 What is metadata
 Types of metadata
 Examples of metadata usage
 Metadata for everyone!
 Questions and wrap-up
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 While programming languages are the
engines which run the web and the software
we use, metadata is akin to street signs or
maps – communicating to people, software,
and other computer languages.
 This communication can be information about
the content (descriptive), about its technical
specifications or creation.
 Metadata is truly everywhere – often
hidden behind the tools and online products
we use.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

APIs are programming
interfaces which
facilitate communication
MARC can be exported as XML and Non MARC metadata is often
written in XML, a flexible programming language.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Types of metadata:
 Descriptive
 Structural
 Administrative
 Many forms of metadata include elements of each of
these; however it is dependent upon the schema.
 A schema is a set of rules covering the elements and
requirements for coding. Examples of schemas include
Dublin Core, TEI, EAD, and others.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101 METS is a
standard which
includes
administrative,
descriptive &
structural
metadata.
Karen Coyle 2004,
http://www.kcoyle.net/meta_purpose.html
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Descriptive metadata describes a resource for purposes such
as discovery and identification.
 It can include elements such as title, abstract, author, and
keywords. Keywords can include tags (generally uncontrolled
vocabulary) and/or controlled vocabulary such as LC subject
headings. Keywords is probably one of the most used terms
on the web and its meaning is context based.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Examples of descriptive metadata include
 MARC bibliographic records;
 Tags, titles, and notes in flickr , del.ici.ous, and other social
networking sites;
 metadata embedded in the code of websites;
 and other tagging projects such as steve.museum, OCLC
worldcat.org, LibraryThing, some digital library projects;
 … really any website where a user (or authorized user, such as a
cataloger or member participant) can create or edit description,
keywords/tags, title, creator information and more.
 Let’s look at just a few of these focusing on the descriptive
metadata…
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 A few examples:
A MARC bib record from the
OPAC view of a GIL catalog.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 The metadata generated by catalogers within a
MARC bibliographic record is considered descriptive
metadata. It provides information about the item, from
its title and creator to its format to appropriate LCSH
or Sears subject headings (controlled vocabulary
keywords) assigned by the cataloger.
 How that metadata is interpreted is dependent upon
the software or programming language.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Many digital projects from databases to websites allow
(and even require) the cataloger to create or edit
administrative or structural metadata. Archivists’ Toolkit is
one software used by catalogers which creates all types
of metadata.
 Metadata from these databases can often be cross-
walked. An example of cross-walking is creating a MARC
record from a non-MARC format and then importing the
derived record into a MARC based library catalog, such
as GIL.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Let's look at one simple example of cross-walking
 For the Electronic Theses & Dissertations at UGA, an
appropriately coded metadata record from a MySQL
database can be translated into a MARC record and
loaded into a Voyager catalog, with the end result
being an acceptable MARC bibliographic record.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Note: The MARC
designated fields.
Cataloger’s workform
interface to the
MySQL db.

Note: The
indicators and
field tags are
populated.

The record
Metadata 101 imported into GIL.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101,
robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Although catalogers create, edit and
use metadata everyday, metadata
goes far beyond the library catalog
or even the library website.
 Metadata generation and editing
beyond the library catalog is a
common place activity for many
internet users these days, including
you! If you are not creating metadata
on the Internet, you are using it to
search google and other search
engines.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Web designers also create
metadata to describe the website
Metadata 101 and its content. LC Subject headings
can be coded into the meta tags.
Many websites now carry rights
metadata (administrative).
Metadata for a website is either created by the user when building the website or hand-
coded into the HTML. Some search engines use these keywords to varying degrees.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
A steve museum record.
Steve.museum is open to
art educators and others;
membership is required
to tag. This is user
generated metadata.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Worldcat.org offers both user
contributed metadata (tags) and
authority contributed controlled
metadata (subject headings,
authorized forms of names &
entities, etc.)
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101,
robinfay.net

Library thing – user
generated
cataloging
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101,
robinfay.net

Metadata 101
Microsoft has been
adding metadata to the
its documents for years;
often based upon which
user created the
document. Newer
versions allow this
information to be
changed more easily.
PDF creators also allow
the creation and editing
of metadata.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Structural metadata defines the
relationship between whole and
parts.
 Structural metadata can also be
used for navigational purposes.
Structural metadata would include
links to related files.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Descriptive
metadata
Administrative &
Structural
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101,
robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Administrative metadata provides information to help
manage a resource, such as when and how it was
created, file type and other technical information, and
who can access it.
 Subsets of administrative metadata exist but two
commons ones are
 Rights management metadata, which deals with
intellectual property rights,
 and preservation metadata, which contains information
needed to archive and preserve a resource.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Descriptive
metadata
Administrative
metadata

Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Many different tools are
available for users to create
Metadata 101 metadata – help for flickr users
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
Note: The
association
of tagging
as metadata
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

DC Metadata
generator -- help
for web editors &
designers
Other fields in the
generator include
Date of coverage,
copyright & format.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 We can rate, tag -- add keywords (even use
controlled vocabulary in some cases), assign or flag for
appropriate audience level, define genre, and more.
 User generated metadata is generally created
through an interface on a website and primarily
descriptive; however, many sites are beginning to
allow and encourage rights statements (administrative)
as well as other elements of administrative and
structural metadata.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Concerns and thoughts
 Much of the current discussion about metadata
(tagging/keywords, controlled headings vs. non-controlled
headings, OCLC Community Expert Experiment, etc.) centers
upon the potential differences in quality of user generated
metadata.
 As with any user group, there are varying levels of
expertise and understanding of the subject.
 Metadata can be good or bad.
 Keywords have been terribly misused in the SEO (Search
Engine Optimization) community – leading not only to false
results when searching but also spam and phishing attempts
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Many collaborative websites (social networking) such
as Wikipedia rely on the collective expertise of the
group -- the “true” or accurate information will rise to
the top.
 Untrue or irrelevant information will either sink to the
bottom (fewer hits, bad reviews, marked for review,
etc.) or will be revised by more expert opinions. For
the most part, this works fairly well; however, there
are drawbacks and quality control is an ongoing issue.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Taking the human element out (beyond the
programmers who wrote the scripts for harvesting)
machine derived metadata offers the opportunity to
create large chunks of metadata with minimal human
effort
 However, machine derived metadata may not be able
to distinguish subtleties perceivable to the human eye
and mind – at least, until AI is truly viable
 Duplicates and erroneous information may occur
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101,
robinfay.net

Metadata 101
 Metadata to the world !
 All of the metadata we (the world) creates is mined in
some form or another. Search engines, document
processing software, library catalogs, websites, digital
portals, even our desktop computer’s indexing is mining our
information
 The Web provides almost endless possibilities to share
resources and digital objects.
 Library catalogs mirror general practices on the web; as
more sites not only allow users to create metadata, sites
are beginning to create user created resources, too.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

Metadata 101: Wrap-up
 Types of metadata:
 Descriptive
 Structural
 Administrative
 Many forms of metadata include elements of each of
these; however it is dependent upon the schema.
 A schema is a set of rules covering the elements and
requirements for coding. DC (Dublin Core) is one example
of a metadata schema.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net

 All presentation materials will be available at
http://robinfay.net/site/content/metadata-101-presentation
 Links @
http://delicious.com/georgiawebgurl/metadata_presentation
 Questions?
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata 101, robinfay.net