Yamz.net is a crowdsourced metadictionary for building vocabulary in metadata, allowing users to propose terms, vote on their definitions, and create permalinks for each term. Unlike traditional standards, it focuses on facilitating local adaptations and the evolution of terminology through community input and reputation-based voting. It recognizes the diverse dialects used in different fields, exemplified by multiple definitions for terms in earth science, and aims to enhance interoperation among various metadata standards.

1. YAMZ.net (Yet Another Metadata Zoo, pronounced “yams”)
Metadictionary
A crowdsourced vocabulary builder
Add terms and get permalinks (PIDs)
Use and link controlled terms
Share and refine project terms
Cherry-pick terms for ontologies
Dialog, test, and vote to quickly achieve consensus

2. Every standard starts with a big bunch of
proposed terminology
Which term definitions to keep or toss? Traditional approach
● Busy experts in <your fast-moving field> meet on standards committees
● … often take years to reach consensus
● … usually without field testing
We can do better

3. YAMZ.net (Yet Another Metadata Zoo)
Not a standard, not an ontology
● YAMZ is a living dictionary of metadata terms
● Each term gets an ARK permalink (PID), a proposed nano-standard
○ some are upvoted and rise in search results, others are downvoted or ignored
● Reputation-based voting (like Stack Overflow) helps you choose
● All parts of metadata “speech”, all domains
SimonRobertson@flickr

5. Standard metadata doesn’t exist, except
as inspiration for local dialects
Theory
● Director: “We interoperate with Dublin Core, PREMIS, schema.org, ….”
Practice
● Cataloger/Archivist/Scientist: “Honestly? Those are well-meant, untested
starting points. Our actual work needs local profiles (or modifications).”
Result
● All dialects, all the time – per institution, per laboratory, per project
● Crap interoperation (see Metadata's Bitter Harvest, Library Journal, 2004)

6. The Metadata Universe
Jenn Riley,
IU

7. Domain dialects – similar but different
Example: Earth Science > Cryospheric (frozen water) Science
● 28 different definitions of “glacier”
● 8 different definitions of “puddle”
● 13 different definitions of “firn” (old snow)
● 10 different definitions of “frazil ice” (fine spicules of floating ice)
● 7 different definitions of “ogive” (bands of light and dark ice in a glacier)
● … and so on
Sound familiar? What about your domain?

8. Crowdsourced, but with voting
vernacular
canonical
deprecated
3 classes
of term
← all terms are born here
← these don’t evolve …
← and they never go away
Each term gets a unique persistent id (ARK). Example:
term: iba
definition: other (origin language: Tagalog)
identifier: https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/h1193

9. Some discipline-specific subsets in YAMZ
Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW)
Citizen Science (Sloan)
DesignSafe (UTA)
Persistence statements (CDL, UCLA, TACC)
Space Science – Heliophysics (AGU, NASA, JPL)