Introduction to Metadata

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METADATA: AN INTRODUCTION

Presented by:Hamidah bt. HJ. A. Rahman

Senior LecturerFaculty of Information Management

UiTM Puncak Perdana Campus40150 Shah Alam

SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN

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• Metadata is structured data which describes the characteristics of a resource.

• It shares many similar characteristics to the cataloguing that takes place in libraries, museums and archives.

• The term "meta" derives from the Greek word denoting a nature of a higher order or more fundamental kind.

• A metadata record consists of a number of pre-defined elements representing specific attributes of a resource, and each element can have one or more values.

What is metadata?

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What is metadata?

Structured data about resources– Library catalogues– Abstracting and indexing services– Archival finding aids– Museum documentation– Community information

Carriers: MARC, HTML, SGML, XML

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Types of metadata1) Descriptive Metadata

2) Administrative Metadata

3) Structural Metadata

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Types of metadata

1) Descriptive Metadata

2) Administrative Metadata

3) Structural Metadata

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Types of metadata1) Descriptive Metadata:

to serve the purposes of discovery (how one finds a resource), identification (how a resource can be distinguished from other, similar resources), and selection (how to determine that a resource fills a particular need, for example, for the DVD version of a video recording)

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Types of metadata2) Administrative Metadata:

is information intended to facilitate the management of resources. It can include such information as when and how an object was created, who is responsible for controlling access to or archiving the content, what control or processing activities have been performed in relation to it, and what restrictions on access or use apply.

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Types of metadata3) Structural Metadata (SM):

can be thought of as the glue that holds compound digital objects together. A book, for example, may have many chapters, each consisting of a set of pages, each page represented by a separate digital file. Structural metadata (SM) is required to record the relationships between physical files and pages, between pages and chapters, and between chapters and the book as a whole. Presentation software uses SM to display Tables of contents and to deliver such functions as going directly to a requested chapter, or to turn pages forward or backward in order.

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Why use metadata?

Metadata provides the essential link between the information creator and the information user.

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Aim of metadataWhile the primary aim of metadata is to improve

resource discovery, metadata sets are also being developed for other reasons, including:

administrative control security personal information management information content rating rights management preservation

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Metadata may be deployed in a number of ways:

• Embedding the metadata in the Web page by the creator or their agent using META tags in the HTML coding of the page

• As a separate HTML document linked to the resource it describes

• In a database linked to the resource. The records may either have been directly created within the database or extracted from another source, such as Web pages.

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Some of the most popular metadata schemas include:

Dublin Core AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) GILS (Government Information Locator

Service) EAD (Encoded Archives Description) • IMS (IMS Global Learning Consortium) • AGLS (Australian Government Locator Service)

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The data will be unusable, unless the encoding scheme understands the semantics of the metadata schema. The encoding allows the metadata to be processed by a computer program.

Important schemes include:• HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) • SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) • XML (eXtensible Markup Language) • RDF (Resource Description Framework) • MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) • MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)

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Markup languages

SGML - Standard Generalised Markup Language - controls document formatting for publication

XML - Extensible Markup Language - “next generation” SGML

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language - SGML subset, controls display of web pages

Tags (usually paired) structure text into elementse.g. headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.<title> </title> <p> </p> <li> </li>

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MARC - structure

• Structured format

• Numeric and alpha tags

• Fixed fields

o Leader, 001-008, 010-099

• Variable fields

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MARC – elements

1XX Main entry2XX Title, SR, edition, publication3XX Physical description4XX Series5XX Notes6XX Subject access7XX Added entries8XX Added entries for series9XX References and local fields

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ONIX - structure

Carrier - XML Primary use• publishers to Internet booksellers• rich product information

In use • first version 1999• current version Release 2.0 (2001)

Elements – XML reference name and tag

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ONIX - elements

• Message header• Product record– identifiers, author, title, edition, language, subject,

audience, descriptions, publisher, dates– territorial rights, dimensions, suppliers,

availability, promotions• Main series and sub series records

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ONIX record<ISBN> 0123456789 </ISBN><DistinctiveTitle> Alice in Wonderland </Distinctive Title><Contributor><ContributorRole> Author </ContributorRole>

<PersonNameInverted> Carroll, Lewis </PersonNameInverted></Contributor>

<PublisherName> Collins </PublisherName><PublicationDate> 2000 </Publication Date>

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Dublin Core - structure

Simple resource discovery DCMES – Dublin Core Metadata Element Set

HTML the most common ‘carrier’ Comprises 15 elements with element qualifiers element encoding schemes optional/mandatory elements Application profiles

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Dublin Core - elements

TitleCreatorSubjectDescriptionPublisherContributorDateResource Type

FormatResource IdentifierSourceLanguageRelationCoverageRights

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Dublin Core - record

<Title> Alice in Wonderland </Title><Creator> Lewis Carroll </Creator><Subject> <LCSH> Fiction </LCSH> </Subject><Publisher> Project Gutenberg </Publisher><Date> 2000 </Date><Format> ASCII file via FTP </Format><Identifier> http://promo.net/pg/….. </Identifier>

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Encoded Archival Description

• EAD– 1993 project to develop standard for machine-readable

finding aids,Version 1 1998

• SGML (and XML compliant)

• Hierarchical structure of archives– repository, management group, fonds, series, file, item

• Possible to embed MARC elements

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EAD - structure<ead>

<eadheader></eadheader> <frontmatter> [optional]</frontmatter>

<archdesc><did></did>

</archdesc></ead>

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EAD - elements<eadheader> [id + bibliographic inf. for finding aid]

<archdesc> [data on a body of archival materials]

<did> [container, physical description, physical location, repository, date and title of unit]

<admininfo> [biography, scope, access, arrangement]

<controlaccess> [name, place, genre, subject, title]

</archdesc>

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EAD record - <header><ead><eadheader><eadid> LKX-3042 </eadid<filedesc>

<titlestmt> <titleproper> Pitman Shorthand Collection Catalogue </titleproper> <author> Ann Chapman </author> </titlestmt>

<publicationstmt> <date> 1990 </date> <publisher> Bath University Library </publisher> </publicationstmt>

</filedesc> </eadheader>

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EAD record - <archdesc>

<archdesc> collection<did> <abstract> A collection of materials in and aboutshorthand collected by Sir Isaac Pitman and JamesPitman</abstract> </did><controlaccess>

<subject encodinganalog=“MARC650”> Shorthand </subject>

</controlaccess> </archdesc></ead>

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Collection DescriptionSchema developed May 2000Access version for RSLP – summer 2001Web version for Reveal – spring 2002

General attributesSubjectDatesAssociated agentsExternal relationships

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Coll.Desc. - elements

General: title, identifier, description, strength, physical characteristics, language, type, access control, accrual status, legal status, custodial history, note, location

Subject: concept, object, name, place, time

Dates: accumulation, contents

Agents: creator, owner

Relationships: sub/super collections, catalogues and descriptions, associated collections and publications

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Coll. Desc. - recordTitle: Pitman CollectionStrength: Shorthand – national collectionPhys. Desc: Printed texts and manuscriptsLang: English, Spanish, Esperanto, ……Access: Written request to the Librarian, Bath Univ.Accrual: passive, deposit Location: The Library, Bath University, BathSubject: Shorthand, Sir Isaac PitmanOwner: Pitman Publishing Co.Catalogue: Bath University OPAC

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M21 Community Information

Same principles as MARC BibliographicLeader

individual/organization/program/event/other

Fixed fields001-008, 010-099 fixed fields007 disability facilities008 special aspects

Variable fields

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M21 Comm. Inf. - elements

1XX Name 2XX Title and Address3XX Physical description4XX Series (for events)5XX Notes6XX Subject access7XX Added entries8XX Other variable fields

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M21 Comm. Inf. - record

110 $a CILIP245 $a CILIP HQ247 $a LA HQ $f 19?? - 2002270 $a 7 Ridgmount St, London, WC1E 7AE $k 020 7255 0505 $m [email protected]$r 9am to 6pm311 $a Ewart Room $d seats 50 $g £100 per day312 $a Overhead projector $f £10 per day581 $a Library + Information Update856 $a http://www.cilip.org.uk

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Metadata – fit for purpose

• MARC Bibliographic

• ONIX

• Dublin Core

• EAD

• Collection description

• M21 Community Information

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How does one create metadata?• DC-dot - http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcdot/. This

service will retrieve a Web page and automatically generate Dublin Core metadata, either as HTML tags or as RDF/XML, suitable for embedding in the section of the page.

• DCmeta - http://www.dstc.edu.au/RDU/MetaWeb/generic_tool.html. Developed by Tasmania Online. It is based on SuperNoteTab text-editor and can be customised.

• HotMeta - http://www.dstc.edu.au/Research/Projects/hotmeta/. A package of software, including metadata editor, repository and search engine.

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ANY QUESTIONS

THANK YOU