WELCOME TO WORLD OF DIGITAL HUMANITIES
The Power of Meta Data
WHAT IS META DATA
Metadata means “data about data”, which is extensively used but a frequently under-specified term.
INTRO
Metadata is understood in different ways by the various professional communities that create, design, explain, preserve, and use information sources and systems.
Metadata is our key word in the sea of information.
Metadata is the naming of things, objects, people, and places.
Metadata is the language for discovering, finding, and re-finding.
HISTORY OF META DATA
Until the end of eighteenth century, metadata was primarily used by communities involved in management with data management design and systems.
As a concept, metadata has existed and considered for as long as information has been organized, which is increasingly created and interacted using digital ways nowadays.
For more than a century, information professionals were responsible for the creation and management of metadata.
With the creation of increased and improved information resources especially when networked and put on line via the web by general public, metadata is no longer considered solely the specification of information professionals.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF DATA STANDARDS
Data Structure Standards – Schemas, Element Sets
Data Value Standards – Controlled List, Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies
Data Content Standards – Cataloging Codes and Rules
Data Format Standards – Machine Readable Form
A SHORTLIST OF COMMON STANDARDS
FORMATS
Text Data: Word, HTML, XML, JSON, ODT, PDF
Syntax: XSD, RDF…
Audio: WAV, MP3..
TECHNICAL/PROTOCOL
Search and Retrieval: SQL, HTTP, FTP, RESTful, Z39.50, SOAP, OAL-MPH..
Character Encoding: Unicode JITF8…
DESCRIPTIVE
Library: METS, MARCXML, FRB, MARC, and MODS…
•Museum: CDWA, LIDO/Object ID, SPECTRUM..
SCOPE OF META DATA
The application of metadata outside the original repository broadens its scope
INTERNET RESOURCE PROVIDER
might use metadata to refer to information that is encoded in HTML meta tags for the purposes of making a website easier to find
INDIVIDUALS DIGITIZING IMAGES
might think of metadata as the information they enter into a header field for the digital file to record information about the image file, the imaging process, and image rights.
SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA ARCHIVIST
might use the term to refer to the systems and research documentation necessary to run and interpret a magnetic tape containing raw research data
DIGITAL RECORDS ARCHIVIST
might use the term to refer to all the contextual, processing, preservation, and use information needed to identify and document the scope, authenticity, and integrity of an active or archival record in an electronic record-keeping or archival preservation system.
USES OF META DATA
1.Certify degree of completeness and authenticity of the content;
2.Establish and document the context of the content;
3.Classify and exploit the structural relationships that exist within and between information objects;
4.Provide intellectual access for an progressively diverse range of users; and
5.Present some of the information that an information professional might have provided in a in-person reference, traditional, or research setting.
CATEGORIES OF METADATA
FUNCTIONS OF META DATA
Creation, Multi-versioning, Reuse, and Recontextualization of Information Objects.
Organization and Description of Items in Repository or Original Items
Validation and Authentication of Information Resources Obtained by Individuals Using Metadata
Search and Retrieval of Information Objects and Related Data through Good Descriptive Metadata
Utilization and Preservation of Information Objects and Data in Digital Realm by Metadata Related to User Annotations, Rights Tracking, and Version control
Documenting the Disposition (Accessioning, Deaccessioning) of Original Objects through Metadata
FACTS ABOUT METADATA
Metadata is not always necessarily digital.
Metadata is more than just the description of an information object or resource.
Metadata comes from different sources.
Metadata continues to accumulate over the life of an information system or object.
The Metadata of one information object can at the same time be the data of another information object, based on the type of dependencies and aggregations between two information systems and objects.
IMPORTANCE OF METADATA
Increased Accessibility
Retention of Context
Expanding Use
Teaching and Learning
Legal Issues
System Improvement and Economics
CONCLUSION
“Metadata is now increasingly adapted by consumers and creators as they design, create, and exploit user-contributed metadata; and schoolchildren, adult learners, and college students as they are taught to look for metadata in information literacy programs.”
The existence of different categories of metadata is critical to the increased online and intellectual accessibility of information alongside the utility digital resources.
The information objects contained by the metadata along with the collections and original objects makes it complex.
Metadata can increase accessibility, Create and Reuse Information objects, validate and authenticate use of information objects, can help in search and retrieval of information, and has many other functions.
“Future Prospects: The metadata offers Rosetta stone that will make it possible to decode information and changing them into knowledge in the cultural heritage information systems of the future.”
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”