Chapter 1 section titles
1.1 Background
1.2 Definitions
1.3 A Brief History
1.4 Types and Functions
1.5 Standards
1.6 Principles
1.7 Examples of Metadata Descriptions
1.8 Summary
Links to the sources of examples
Exercises
These exercises are designed to help you to become more familiar with metadata descriptions. For the most updated links related to the specific tools and examples they address, please consult the book’s website.
1. First, use structured data to describe yourself (e.g., name, degree program, interests, and any other special elements you would like to include) without following any standard. Then, employ Friend of a Friend (FOAF), one of the standards mentioned in section 1.3, to describe yourself, using a template: FOAF-a-Matic.
- Fill out the form at FOAF-a-Matic
http://www.ldodds.com/foaf/foaf-a-matic.html - Click on FOAF ME
- Copy the generated FOAF description --> paste it into a file, name it as "myfoaf.rdf"
- Example: Tim Berners-Lee's FOAF file http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card.rdf
2. Compare and analyze a variety of metadata instances found in real cases, including:
Tips: To view 'source' from a browser: Chrome: View -->Developer-->View Source ; Firefox: Tools-->Web Developer -->Page Source
. To find out if the page has embedded metadata without viewing the source code: Firefox: Tools-->Page Info
- Web sites
- IBM: English-UK http://www.ibm.com/uk-en/ , Spanish http://www.ibm.com/es-es/ , Greek http://www.ibm.com/gr-el/ , etc. --> view source
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) --> Collection of Open Digital Archives--> a report's metadata record --> view source
- PDF, Word files, iTune
- Open a WORD file from your computer, choose File --> Properties
- Open a PDF file from your computer, or download this one NISO: Understanding Metadata, open from your computer, choose File --> Properties
- Click on a file from your iTune playlist, choose File --> Get Info
- Digital collections
- Europeana http://www.europeana.eu/portal/ --> search "Olympics" --> filter by video | filter by country | filter by copy right | filter by language
- Knowledge panels from search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex)
- Wikipedia Infoboxes
- Wikipedia --> search "Leonardo da Vinci" --> view the Infobox on right
Readings
Duval, Erik, Wayne Hodgins, Stuart Sutton, and Stuart L. Weibel. 2002. "Metadata Principles and Practicalities." D-Lib Magazine 8 (4). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april02/weibel/04weibel.html.
Gilliland, Anne J. 2016. “Setting the Stage.” In Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information, 3rd ed., edited by Murtha Baca. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, J. Paul Getty Trust.
http://www.getty.edu/publications/intrometadata/setting-the-stage/.
Riley, Jenn. 2017. Understanding Metadata: What is Metadata, and What is it For? A Primer. Bethesda, MD: NISO Press. https://www.niso.org/publications/understanding-metadata-2017.
Schriml, Lynn M., Maria Chuvochina, Neil Davies, Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh, Robert D. Finn, Philip Hugenholtz, Christopher I. Hunter, et al. 2020. “COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals the Peril of Ignoring Metadata Standards.” Scientific Data 7:188. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0524-5.
Wilkinson, Mark D., Michel Dumontier, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, Gabrielle Appleton, Myles Axton, Arie Baak, Niklas Blomberg, et al. 2016. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship.” Scientific Data 3:160018. http://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618.