This document discusses metadata and how it is used everywhere in our digital world. Metadata describes resources to enable discovery and identification. It can be descriptive, structural, or administrative. Descriptive metadata includes tags, titles, and keywords. Structural metadata defines relationships between parts of a resource. Administrative metadata manages resources and includes rights information. Metadata is created by libraries, websites, software, devices, users tagging content, and more. It drives search engines, apps, the Semantic Web, and helps resources be discovered, organized, and managed.

1. Metadata makes the
world go round
robin fay /
georgia webgurl twitter,
+
linkedin, google
SLIDES AT SLIDESHARE.NET/ROBINFAY

2. Did you know metadata is
everywhere? That you are a
metadata creator?
Explore how data drives the
web, library catalogs,
devices (mp3 players, etc.),
and how we create and edit
that metadata.
robin fay /
georgia webgurl twitter,
+
linkedin, google
SLIDES AT SLIDESHARE.NET/ROBINFAY

3. Metadata makes the world go round
Metadata makes it happen…
Our world is
●Wired and wireless
●Mobile
● New technology and
capabilities every day
● Data (& metadata driven)
● User centered /
personalized
● Social / sharing
● Image based
● Learning differently
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

4. Metadata makes the world go round
Our world is moving towards
the semantic web
integrated technology
●
(devices talking to each
other in new ways)
●
Semantic Web
Personalized
Our world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNcjya56v8
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

5. Metadata makes the world go round
● 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.net

6. 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, robinfay.net

7. ● Types of metadata:
● Descriptive
● Structural
● Administrative - includes rights
● 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

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

9. 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

10. 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

11. 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

12. Metadata 101
A familiar example:
A MARC formatted bib record from
an OPAC (library catalog).
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

13. Metadata 101
● Many digital projects from databases to websites allow
(and even require) the cataloger to create or edit
administrative (like rights; DRM), or structural metadata
(like related files).
● Metadata from these databases can often be cross-
walked (exported from one; imported into another). 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.
We'll look at one library related example of this
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

14. The record in the ETD (Electronic Theses & Dissertations database that can be edited...
Note: The MARC
designated fields.
Cataloger’s
workform interface
to the MySQL db.

15. Note: The indicators and field
tags are populated. This is the
screen that starts the
conversion to a MARC record.

16. A beautiful
MARC record
Metadata 101 imported into a
library catalog.
Robin Fay, Univ. of Georgia, Metadata
101, robinfay.net

17. 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 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

18. Metadata: All the places it will go
● When you import your instagram (or
Flickr) photos into Facebook, you are
starting a conversion process, too.
Metadata that you have created
(locations, dates, etc.) may or may not
get added to Facebook. (Most of it
doesn't, by the way, but you can add it in
manually).
● You also create metadata when you
blog, post to Facebook, tweet, tag a
person (or place), or well.. any content
you create on the web.
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.net

19. Web designers also create metadata to
Metadata: Web describe the website and its content. LC
Subject headings can be coded into the
Designers do it meta tags. Many websites now carry
rights metadata (administrative) Our
music and ebook files carry rights
metadata (DRM), Digital Rights
Management.
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. Hint> View Source Code (Right Click) View Page Source
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.net

20. Steve.museum is open to
art educators and others;
membership (free) is
required to tag. This is
user generated metadata.
Descriptive
Metadata (tags)

21. Worldcat.org offers both user
contributed metadata (tags) and
authority contributed controlled
metadata (subject headings,
authorized forms of names &
entities, etc.)
Libraries and website users do it!
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

22. delicious users make a
lot of metadata
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

23. Metadata: Microsoft does it too
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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

24. Metadata: Structural metadata
● 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

25. Descriptive
metadata
Administrative &
Structural
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

26. Metadata: Administrative - Right and more
● 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

27. Metadata: Administrative - Right and more
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

28. Descriptive
metadata
Administrative
metadata

29. Administrative
Descriptive
metadata
Structural
Descriptive
Administrative / Rights
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

30. Metadata: Flickr tools Many different tools are available for
users to create metadata – help for
flickr users
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

31. Metadata Makes the World Go 'Round
Note: The
association of
tagging as
metadata
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

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

33. Making Metadata
● 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, robinfay.net

34. Metadata Automatic
● Our software creates metadata such as file names,
URLs, and more (some automatically)
● Our devices create metadata - EXIF (embedded
metadata) is created by our cameras. This data can
include GPS related information (location), date, file
format and name, camera make, file size and more.
genre, and more.
●
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

35. Metadata Automatic
Some of this metadata (EXIF) is used by sites
like Flickr.
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

36. Metadata: What about search?
It's all metadata. You can't find
what's not there.
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

37. Internet Archive, Creative Commons search
and Compfight all allow searching by license.
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

38. Metadata
● 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.
●
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

39. Metadata
● Concerns and thoughts
● 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
● DRM is not working for digital objects. Licensing is a
complicated issue for some items.
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

40. Metadata
● 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.
● Facebook Places is a Facebook project to verify and
correct location related metadata - crowdsourcing
metadata maintenance!
Robin Fay, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.net

41. Metadata Makes the World Go 'Round
● 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

42. 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, @georgiawebgurl robinfay.
net

43. ACRL Visual Literacy
Metadata on the web
• Use images and visual media effectively
• Design and create meaningful images and visual media
• Understand many of the ethical, legal, social, and economic
issues surrounding the creation and use of images and visual
media, and access and use visual materials ethically
Robin Fay, robinfay.net

44. Thank you!
http://delicious.
com/georgiawebgurl/metadata_present
ation_como
Lots more presentations from me at slideshare.net/robinfay
georgiawebgurl@gmail.com