This document discusses the importance of metadata for statistical organizations in the transition from print to digital dissemination. It notes that as more users access information online, metadata is needed to help users find, understand, and reuse statistical data across different formats and applications. The document outlines different types of metadata including structural, reference, and process metadata and how they support user needs and organizational workflows. It emphasizes that metadata should be managed as an integral part of the statistical production process.

1. The importance of
metadata
Katja Šnuderl
ENP-East Training Programme:
User-Friendly Web Dissemination
Minsk, 25. – 28. 3. 2014

2. Background (current trends)
• Shift from print to electronic dissemination
• Growing number of users
• Static  dynamic websites
• Re-use

3. Paper vs. Web
Long texts are appropriate No one reads more than a
few lines
Size of tables limited by the
paper format
No technical limitations
Fixed table structure User selects data and
designs tables
Methodological explanations
as free text
Structured reference
metadata
Quoting or re-writing Contextual linking

4. Paper AND Web
 Archive
 Print and take
 No internet
 Libraries
 ! Coherence
 more workload for data producers,
structured metadata help avoiding most of
duplication

5. Growing number of users
Earlier: Personal contact
Now: Internet
• Growing diversity of users
• Statistical literacy can no longer be granted
• Understanding who Internet users are is
necessary
• Feedback analysis needed
• Statistical websites are the most important
dissemination channel for statistics

6. Dynamic websites
• Metadata-driven publishing of statistical data
• Layering of information for different user
groups
• Different outputs from a single source (output
database)

7. Re-use of information
• Web services
• SDMX
• Embedding
"Visit our website!"
"Share statistical results!"

8. Metadata for whom?
• Staff
– database administrators
– statisticians
– developers
– managers
• Users, internal/external
– journalists
– international organisations
– researchers
– occasional users
– …

9. Metadata in Statistics
Structural, Reference and Process Metadata

10. Structural Metadata
• Describing the form (table structure)
• Table name, codelists, variables …
• descriptive (discovery) metadata – including
synonyms, used in search
• technical metadata (no. of decimals, thousand
separator …)
Needed by applications for presenting, reading and
exchange of data

11. Reference Metadata
• Describing the content
• conceptual metadata (definitons, purpose of survey …)
• methodological metadata (type of survey, sample size …)
• quality metadata (response rate, data editing indicators …)
• Needed to understand and interpret data.
• Most important to users.

12. Process Metadata
• Supporting the dissemination process
• Release date
• Pre-access protocol / embargo
• Dissemination channels
• Replaces manual data publishing

13. Applications use metadata to…
… Present data in different media
… Use function to combine content into different
formats
… Prepare once, use many times!
Content (data) Function (process)
Design (format)
SDMX

14. Users need metadata …
… to search for data of potential
relevance for their needs
… to identify needed data and
decide to retrieve them
… to analyse and interpret the
statistical data which were
retrieved
Browse /
search
Select
Comprehend
Compare

15. Examples

16. Metadatada management
• Integral part of the business process
• Capture metadata at the source
• Enter once, use many times
• Generic formats
• Coordination team

17. Questions?
Discussion

18. Grup discussion: Card sorting
• 3 user groups
– Tourists
– Farmers
– Miners
• From the provided list of metadata mark:
– XX … highly relevant metadata
– X … probably relevant metadata