NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and your projects - how it all fits together

Nick Poole

ICT Adviser

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Introduction

• When to use metadata (and what to use)...

• Why use metadata?

• Metadata and your existing information

• Project example - Crossroads

• e-Government and metatdata

• Contact information

• This presentation available online at http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/team/poole

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

When to use metadata (and what to use)…

• Metadata is involved throughout the digitisation process• Images:

– NISO Metadata Dictionary for Still Images– http://www.niso.org/committees/committee_au.html– covers preservation, migration, formatting– also RLG Working Group on Preservation Issues– http://www.rlg.org/preserv/presmeta.html

• Resource discovery:– RSLP Collection Description metadata framework– http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/

• Creating learning resources:– Metadata for Education Group– http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata?

• Good housekeeping

• Digital preservation

• Resource discovery

• Rights management

• Turning ‘stuff’ into ‘information’

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata - good housekeeping

• The good news: if you keep object records, you already use metadata

• The naming conventions used in your records (name/subject, collector, date acquired, location etc) relate directly to those required by a metadata schema

• The adoption of a metadata schema enforces a standard approach to the way you collect and manage this information

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata - digital preservation

• Metadata preserves the core of important contextual information alongside the object record itself

• Metadata enables a structured approach to the management and preservation of information

• Organised metadata provides a ‘meta-collection’ which can be searched and referenced more efficiently than the original records themselves

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata - resource discovery

• Indexed metadata provides a fast and simple means of searching across and retrieving large numbers of records

• Standard applications of metadata (eg the RSLP CLD/ Dublin Core) enable cross-searching between different databases even where different field names/ terminologies have been applied

• Enables the reuse of information to suit different priorities:

– Owner/manager - information management– User/software agent - locating & interpreting information– Third-party agent - promotion & re-use of information

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata - rights management

• Metadata preserves rights information alongside the original object record

• Enables content to be re-used and distributed in a way that maintains the link to its original creators

• The RSLP CLD schema preserves not only the specific contextual information but also the relationship information - for example the relationship between an institution, a subject collection and a named sub-collection

• In other words, metadata not only preserves information about provenance, but also about management and status of the collection

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata - ‘stuff’ to ‘information’

• Overall, metadata is the bridge between the individual object record, and the much wider context to which it belongs

• Metadata enables the meaningful re-use of the raw data. It allows users to discover, interpret and re-purpose the information to create resources

• Metadata facilitates the grouping of data into meaningful sets of information

• Metadata also preserves the necessary rights and institutional details alongside the re-applied information

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Why use metadata?

At a minimum, metadata should conform to developing e-Government and UfI metadata standards and should be capable of supporting the delivery of item-level Dublin Core (DC) descriptions of all project resources.

- Source, NOF-digitise technical standards (V3.1)

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and your existing information

• There are a number of approaches to metadata generation, depending on – which stage of information gathering/content creation the project

has reached– the technical architecture of your information store– the schema, or conceptual architecture of your information– the requirements of resource discovery, retrieval and delivery

• Options include– a proprietary schema that maps directly to RSLP CLD field names– a rich schema that can be distilled into a simple metadata set such

as Dublin Core– a Content Management System that is able to generate metadata

dynamically from object records– a CMS that is able to generate metadata in XML, or a pure XML

expression of the dataset

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and your existing information

• There are ‘one-off’ tools which will distill ‘rich’ information into a ‘simple’ metadata set like Dublin Core

• These run on a ‘page by page’ basis

• For example, the ‘dc.dot’ tool available either as a download or direct from the UKOLN website:– http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcdot/help/personal.html

• Or the Metty product from ClickFire at– http://www.clickfire.com/freeware/metty/

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

…but, this approach is too resource-intensive for batch-processing of information. Where records are held in a Content Management System, it is much easier to generate metadata on the fly….

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and Content Management Systems

Resources (held in a CMS)

MetadataMetadataMetadata

Metadata Website

(with thanks to Pete Johnston for the diagram…)

In other words, metadata provides the bridge between user and information in the automated process of resource discovery….

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and Content Management Systems

• Most current Content Management Systems will support the publishing of metadata in a number of formats direct from the database

• It is relatively easy to distil a ‘simple’ set of metatags from the ‘rich’ environment of a CMS.

• The important thing is to establish a map between your field names and the elements of the relevant metadata set

• Eg………..

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Metadata and Content Management Systems

Record within the CMS….. DC metadata

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Project example

• Crossroads project

• A cross-domain project to enable online access to library, museum and archive collections in the West Midlands

• Field/database structure based on the RSLP Collections Description Schema

• CLD revised to suit the purposes of the project but retains the core DC.elements to enable resource discovery…

• Sample input form and background information now available at http://crossroads-wm.org.uk

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02dc.title

dc.identifierdc.description

dc.coveragedc.language

And so on. The form is designed using the RSLP CLD as a basis, which enables it to retain sufficient granularity to describe the collections and relationships, but is also capable of exporting a simplified set of information based on the DC element set.

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

e-Government and metadata

• e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) specifies protocols and standards for interoperability between public-sector services online

• Full documentation available at http://www.govtalk.gov.uk• Provides a Government Category List (GCL) now

published in full, intended for use with the Subject element of the e-Government Metadata Standard

• Standard arises from the e-Government Metadata Framework. This document specifies the standard approach to metadata, including the role of Dublin Core, for public-sector bodies

• NOF -digitise projects will need to familiarise themselves with the e-GMF

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

e-Government and metadata

• UfI (learndirect) implementation standards

• Specified in NOF-digi technical standards

• Provide information and guidance of relevance to the re-use of your content for lifelong learning

• Full documentation available at http://www.learndirect.co.uk/personal/helpandadvice/suppliers/

NOF-digi Metadata - 05/02/02

Contact:

Nick Poole

ICT Adviser

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries

16 Queen Anne’s Gate

London

SW1H 9AA

Tel 020 7273 1410

Email nick.poole@resource.gov.uk

Web http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk