Introduction to Metadata for Digital Asset Management

1
Introduction to Metadatafor Digital Asset
Management

• Howard Besser
• UCLA School of Education Information
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/howard

2
Metadata A fancy word for something familiar

• Cataloging
• Indexing
• Description
• But also new elements of technical description
  (file format, compression schemes, file names, )

3
Metadata for Digital Asset Management-

• Importance of Metadata Standards
• Types and Uses of Metadata
• Discovery Metadata The Dublin Core
• Administrative and Structural Metadata The
  Making of America II Project
  
• Longevity Metadata
• Identification/Provenance
• The 4/99 NISO/DLF Image Metadata Workshop
• Various other Metadata

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What is Metadata

• Structured data describing other data used to
  find or help manage information resources
  
• Aids in interoperability
• Titles, dates, captions, cataloging and indexing
  data, file headers, rights info, provenance, code
  books, transaction logs, ...
  
• One persons metadata is anothers data

5
Sorting through the Standards Morass

• Data Structures (DC, CDWA, MARC, VRA Core, TEI,
  EAD, MESL data dict)
  
• Data Interchange (Z39.50)
• Data Values/vocabularies (LCSH, AAT, ULAN, TGN)
• Data Content/syntax (AACR2)

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Semantics/Syntax/Structure

• Semantics
• meaning, as defined by a community to meet their
  particular needs (DC)
  
• Syntax
• a systematic arrangement of data elements for
  machine processing
  
• facilitates the exchange and use of metadata
  among various applications (HTML, XML, RDF)
  
• Structure
• a formal arrangement of the syntax with the goal
  of consistent representation of the semantics
  (rules defining field contents like 1/11/99)

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What is MetadataTypes Uses

• lots of different ways of dividing the clusters

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Uses of Metadata

• Discovery Retrieval
• Identification/Provenance
• Rights Management
• Viewing
• Integrity
• Longevity
• Content rating

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Containers and Packages of MetadataWarwick, not
MARC

• modular
• overlapping
• extensible
• community-based
• designed for a networked world to aid commonality
  btwn communities while still providing full
  functionality within each community

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Some different schemes where Metdata is kept

• embedded within the object (HTML tags)
• in a separate related DB maintained by same
  organization (OPAC, MOA II)
  
• in a separate DB maintained by a separate
  organization (Books in Print, ratings systems)
  
• derived on-the-fly from a different scheme
  (MARC-to-DC)

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Collaborative Metadata Projects

• Dublin Core
• NSF/ERCIM Digital Collaboratory
• OCLC CORC Project-
• Visual Resources Association (VRA) Core
• Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
• Computerized Interchange of Museum Information
  (CIMI)-
  
• Records Export for Art and Cultural Heritage
  (REACH)

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CORC--Cooperative Online Resource Catalog

• both bib records webliographies (pathfiinders)
• supports both AACR2/MARC and DC
• began 1/99, scheduled availability 7/00
• 100-200 participants
• Academic libraries
• OCLC networks, special libraries, public
  libraries, state national libraries, consortia

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Dublin Core (3/95)

• improve resource discovery
• anticipate precision problems of Web
  Crawler-based searching tools
  
• existing metadata could be dumbed down
• elements should be simple to understand and use,
  so that any individual should be able to assign
  terms him/herself
  
• software might eventually automatically generate
  very base-level metadata

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Dublin Core

• Title
• Creator
• Subject
• Description
• Publisher
• Contributors
• Date
• Type

• Format
• Identifier
• Source
• Language
• Relation
• Coverage
• Rights

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Dublin Core

• every element is both optional and repeatable
• elements are cross-disciplinary
• elements are extensible by organized communities
• can employ a syntax such as htmls
  tagset for use by Spiders and Harvesters
  
• May 2000 DLF Metadata Harvesting Project

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DC Qualifiers

• allows one community to express important nuances
  and qualifications, while still making the basic
  importance available to communities with simple
  needs
• our community can reflect alternate title,
  transliterated title, and main title, yet they
  will all be found under a simple Web search under
  title

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Discovery MetadataRecent History

• Dublin Core (3/95)
• Warwick Framework (4/96)
• Image Metadata Workshop (9/96)
• Canberra, Helsinki, ... DC (98)
• Digital Library Collaboratory (97-)
• DC-8, Frankfurt 10/99

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Dublin Core--further work

• Warwick Framework
• metadata packages for extensible functions
• layed groundwork for RDF
• Canberra Qualifiers
• refining the semantics of the element set to
  provide more precise info
  
• SUBELEMENT, SCHEME, LANG
• Granularity
• no hierarchical relationships w/i a given DC
  record only one record per discrete object
  (collection or item-level), and relationship
  field plus qualifier links them

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The Research Process and Functional Categories
of Metadata

• Discovery
• Retrieval
• Collation
• Analysis
• Re-presentation

20
Making of America II-

• Background of the DLF Project
• Administrative Metadata
• Structural Metadata

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MOA2 Goal is Interpoerability

• Book example

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DLF Metadata for Interoperability Testbedthe
MOA II Project

• R D
• Distributed Repositories
• Transportation, 1869-1900
• Testbed Project
• Best Practices
• Structural and administrative metadata

23
Previous Projects/Background

• Library Standards Background
• UC Berkeley Background
• Finding Aids
• EAD
• SGML
• EAD Digital Archives

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MOA II Classes of Objects

• Continuous Tone Photos
• Photo Albums
• Diaries, journals, letterpress books
• Ledgers
• Correspondence

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MOA II Metadata

• Administrative Metadata
• for enhancing resource management
• Structural Metadata
• for reflecting internal hierarchies and
  relationships btwn parts
  
• Raw/Seared/Cooked

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Administrative Metadatato uniquely identify a
digital resource and manage it over time

• Information about where the various
  pieces/versions of the object reside
  
• Information to view the digital object
• Information about the scanning process

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Structural Metadatathat which is relevant to
presentation of the digital object to the user

• metadata defining the "object a book, a diary,
  a photo album
  
• metadata defining the sub-objects pages
  (physical) or chapters and subheads (intellectual)

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SGML, XML, HTML

• TEI for structured humanities text
• EAD for Finding Aids

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Other Types of Metadata-

• Longevity
• Identification/Provenance
• Rights Management

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NISO/DLF Image Metadata WorkshopPossible Goals

• Metadata fields
• Rules for Field Contents (authority control)
• Core set of necessary fields
• Syntax for expressing fields and contents
  (headers)

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Image MetadataFocus on Metadata that may prove
helpful for

• management
• use
• preservation
• ...

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Image MetadataBreak-out Groups Work Done

• Characteristics and Features of Images
• Image Production and Reformatting Features
• Image Identification and Integrity

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Other Metadata

• Description of depiction/surrogate (What VRA
  calls its "Surrogate Categories")
  
• Description of original object
• Rights and Reproduction Information
• Location Information

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Data StructuresThe VRA Core

• 28 elements specifically for visual resource
  collections
  
• Work Description Categories-
• Visual Document Description Categories-
• http//www.oberlin.edu/art/vra/dsc.html

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VRA CoreWork Description Categories

• Work type
• Title
• Measurements
• Material
• Technique
• Creator
• Role
• Date
• Repository name
• Repository place

• Repository number
• Current site
• Original site
• Style/period/group/movement
• Nationality/culture
• Subject
• Related work
• Relationship type
• Notes

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VRA CoreVisual Document Description Categories

• Visual document type
• Visual document format
• Visual document measurements
• Visual document date
• Visual document owner
• Visual document owner number
• Visual document view description
• Visual document subject
• Visual document source

37
Data Value Metadata(vocabularies)

• LCSH
• TGM
• AAT
• ULAN
• TGN
• VRA Core

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LCSH

• very general

39
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

• designed for subject indexing of pictorial
  materials, particularly large general collections
  of historical images
  
• for cataloging and retrieval
• good for general audiences and broad approaches
  to the material
  
• TGM-I Subject Terms TGM-II Genre and Physical
  Characteristic Terms
  
• http//lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm/toc.html

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AAT

• 120,000 terms
• for describing objects, textual materials,
  images, architecture, and material culture from
  antiquity to present
  
• large and complex
• http//www.getty.edu/gri/vocabularies/

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ULAN

• name authority
• http//www.getty.edu/gri/vocabularies/

42
Thesaurus of Geographic Names

• over 1 million records
• hierarchical and global
• throughout history
• most records include coordinates and descriptive
  notes

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Metadata for Digital Commerce

• DOI
• -

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• formal structure for describing and uniquely
  identifying intellectual property itself, the
  people and businesses involved in its trading,
  and the agreements which they make about it
  (primarily for publishing, music, and visual
  arts)
• will develop high-level specifications for the
  services that will be required to implement a
  global IP trading system based on this
  generic data model
• focus is on encoding rights at a high level, not
  on resource discovery
  
• likely to involve metadata schma registration and
  directory to allow interoperation of personal
  identifiers for rightsholders and users
  
• supported by EEC DG-13
• First meeting July 1999
• http//www.indecs.org/

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Metadata Mapping-

• Crosswalks
• Resource Description Framework (RDF)

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Crosswalks

• mapping btwn differing metadata structures
• eliminate the need for monolithic, universally
  adopted standards
  
• focus on flexibility and interoperatiblity
• RDF-based metadata registries

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Crosswalk Example
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Resource Description Framework (RDF, spec
released 2/99)

• W3C Metadata activity
• designed to move the Web beyond simple links to
  semantically-rich relationships btwn resources
  
• metadata application using XML as a common syntax
  for exchange and processing
  
• flexible architecture for managing diverse
  application-specific metadata packets that can be
  processed by machines
  
• associates resources, property types, and
  corresponding values
  
• http//www.w3.org/RDF/

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RDF

• Resources (character strings, names, digital
  objects)
  
• Property (is the author of)
• Value
• resourcespropertiesrelationships
• many different relationships can be reflected

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XML-encoded RDF

• prefix"RDF" ?
  
• prefix"DC" ?
  
• Howard Besser

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Should you start building with RDF today?

• Tools are primitive
• Standard still likely to evolve

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Metadata for Digital Asset Mgmt

• Howard Besser
• UCLA School of Education Information
• Baca, Murtha (ed). Introduction to Metadata, Los
  Angeles Getty Information Institute, 1998
  
• http//www.getty.edu/gri/standard/intrometadata/
• http//sunsite.berkeley.edu/Imaging/Databases/sta
  ndards
  
• http//sunsite.berkeley.edu/moa2/
• http//sunsite.berkeley.edu/Longevity/
• http//www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm
• http//purl.oclc.org/metadata/dublin_core/
• http//purl.oclc.org/corc/
• http//lcweb.loc.gov/ead/
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/howard/image-meta.html
  
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/howard/Metadata/UC-May0
  0/
  
• http//sunsite.berkeley.edu/Metadata/sp2000.html