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Application Profiles Decisions for Your Digital Collections

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Title: Application Profiles Decisions for Your Digital Collections


1
Application ProfilesDecisions for Your Digital
Collections
2
Expectations
  • Metadata is expected to follow existing and
    emerging standards in order to facilitate
    integrated access to multiple information
    providers over the web. However, there are many
    new standards, and most of them are still under
    development . . .

3
Standards landscape
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The plot thickens . . . .
  • And it is rare that the requirements of a
    particular project or site can all be met by any
    one standard straight from the box.

. . . and there are no easy answers
6
The not-so-easy answer
  • Metadata application profiles
  • Tailor complex schemas for project-specific usage
  • Collaborate with all project stakeholders

7
tgm lcsh local
w3cdtf lcnaf
dacs aacr2 local cco
tei mods mets mix ead marc dc
local premis
8
Application profiles Basic Definition
  • schemas which consist of data elements drawn from
    one or more namespaces, combined together by
    implementers, and optimized for a particular
    local application.
  • -- Heery, R. and Patel, M. Application profiles
    mixing and matching metadata schemas. Ariadne 25,
    Sept. 24, 2000 http//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue25/ap
    p-profiles/intro.html

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Example
  • Australia Government Locator Service Manual
  • http//www.egov.vic.gov.au/pdfs/AGLSmanual.pdf
  • Title Identifier Creator
  • Date Publisher Contributor
  • Language Subject Description
  • Type Format Coverage
  • Source Relation Rights
  • Availability Function
  • Audience Mandate

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Basic Definition (cont.)
  • An application profile is an assemblage of
    metadata elements selected from one or more
    metadata schemas and combined in a compound
    schema.
  • -- Duval, E., et al. Metadata Principles and
    Practicalities
  • D-Lib Magazine, April 2002
  • http//www.dlib.org/dlib/april02/weibel/04weibel.h
    tml

14
Profile features
  • Selection of applicable elements, sub-elements
    and attributes
  • Interpretation of element usage
  • Element constraints
  • Mandatory, optional or recommended
  • Repeatable or non-repeatable
  • If repeatable, maximum no. of occurrences
  • Fixed or open values
  • Authority controlled or not

15
Designing of Application Profiles
  • Select base metadata namespace
  • Select elements from other metadata name spaces
  • Define local metadata elements
  • Enforcement of applications of the elements
  • Cardinality enforcement
  • Value Space Restriction
  • Relationship and dependency specification

16
  • Select base metadata namespace
  • Select elements from other metadata name spaces
  • Define local metadata elements
  • Enforcement of applications of the elements
  • Cardinality enforcement
  • Value Space Restriction
  • Relationship and dependency specification
  • -- Dublin Core
  • --13 elements (no source, no relation)
  • --thesis.degree
  • -- some changed from optional to mandatory
  • -- recommended default value, in addition to DCs
  • -- new refinement terms

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DC-Lib
  • A library application profile will be a
    specification that defines the following
  • required elements
  • permitted Dublin Core elements
  • permitted Dublin Core qualifiers
  • permitted schemes and values (e.g. use of a
    specific controlled vocabulary or encoding
    scheme)
  • library domain elements used from another
    namespace
  • additional elements/qualifiers from other
    application profiles that may be used (e.g.
    DC-Education Audience)
  • refinement of standard definitions

19
use terms from multiple namespaces
  • The DC-Library Application Profile uses terms
    from two namespaces
  • DCMI Metadata Terms http//dublincore.org/documen
    ts/dcmi-terms/
  • MODS elements used in DC-Lib application profile
    http//www.loc.gov/mods
  • The Usage Board has decided that any encoding
    scheme that has a URI defined in a non-DCMI
    namespace may be used.

20
Can an AP declare new metadata terms (elements
and refinements) and definitions?
  • "If an implementor wishes to create 'new'
    elements that do not exist elsewhere then (under
    this model) they must create their own namespace
    schema, and take responsibility for 'declaring'
    and maintaining that schema."
  • Heery and Patel (2000)
  • Dublin Core Application Profile Guidelines CEN,
    2003 also includes instructions on "Identifying
    terms with appropriate precision" (Section 3) and
    "Declaring new elements" (Section 5.7)

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Creating Metadata Records
  • The Library Model
  • Trained catalogers, one-at-a-time metadata
    records
  • The Submission Model
  • Creators (agents) create metadata when submitting
    resources
  • The Automated Model
  • Automated tools create metadata for resources
  • Combination Approaches

23
The Library Model
  • Records created by hand, one at a time
  • Shared documentation and content standards
    (AACR2, etc.)
  • Efficiencies achieved by sharing information on
    commonly held resources
  • Not easily extended past the granularity
    assumptions in current practice

24
The Submission Model
  • Based on creator or user generated metadata
  • Can be wildly inconsistent
  • Submitters generally untrained
  • May be expert in one area, clueless in others
  • Often requires editing support for usability
  • Inexpensive, may not be satisfactory as an only
    option

25
The Automated Model
  • Based largely on text analysis doesnt usually
    extend well to non-text or low-text
  • Requires development of appropriate evaluation
    and editing processes
  • Still largely research few large, successful
    production examples, yet
  • Can be done in batch
  • Also works for technical as well as descriptive
    metadata

26
Content Storage Models
  • Storage related to the relationships between
    metadata and content
  • These relationships affect how access to the
    information is accomplished, and how the metadata
    either helps or hinders the process (or is
    irrelevant to it)

27
Common Storage Models
  • Content with metadata
  • Metadata only
  • Service only

28
Content with metadata
  • Examples
  • HTML pages with embedded meta tags
  • Most content management systems (though they may
    store only technical or structural metadata
  • Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)
  • Often difficult to update

29
Metadata only
  • Library catalogs
  • Web-based catalogs often provide some services
    for digital content
  • Electronic Resource Management Systems (ERMS)
  • Provide metadata records for title level only
  • Metadata aggregations
  • Using OAI-PMH for harvest and re-distribution

30
Service only
  • Often supported partially or fully by metadata
  • Google, Yahoo (and others)
  • Sometimes provide both search services and
    distributed search software
  • Electronic journals (article level)
  • Linked using link resolvers or available
    independently from websites
  • Have metadata behind their services but dont
    generally distribute it separately

31
Common Retrieval Models
  • Library catalogs
  • Based on a consensus that granular metadata is
    useful
  • Web-based (Amazoogle)
  • Based primarily on full-text searching and link-
    or usage-based relevance ranking
  • Portals and federations
  • Service provider model

32
Nine Questions to Guide You in Choosing a
Metadata Schema
  • Who will be using the collection?
  • Who is the collection cataloger (a.k.a. metadata
    creator)?
  • How much time/money do you have?
  • How will your collection be accessed?
  • How is your collection related to other
    collections?

33
Nine Questions to Guide You in Choosing a
Metadata Schema
  • What is the scope of your collection?
  • Will your metadata be harvested?
  • Do you want your collection to work with other
    collections?
  • How much maintenance and quality control do you
    wish?

34
Decisions for Your Digital Collection
  • 1. Considering metadata in a larger project
    setting
  • Organization-wide collaborative
  • Library
  • Special collections
  • Archives
  • Academic departments, business departments
  • State-wide collaborative projects
  • E.g., Ohio Memory
  • Nation-wide projects
  • E.g., American Memory

35
Decisions for Your Digital Collection
  • Similar or related disciplines
  • E.g., architecture projects, art projects
  • Similar or related media
  • E.g., multimedia database, image galleries,
    visual resources repositories, manuscript
    collections, company procedure documents

36
Principles to be considered
  • Interoperability
  • Your data can be integrated into a larger
    project.
  • Your data structure allows others to join you.
  • Metadata reuse
  • Existing MARC or EAD records can be reused.

37
Principles to be considered
  • Simplicity
  • High quality original data
  • Ensure best quality.
  • One-time project vs. ongoing projects
    considering long life. Few revision chances in
    the future.

38
2. Knowing the difference
  • Object"/"work" vs. reproduction
  • Textual vs. non-textual resources
  • Document-like vs. non-document-like objects
  • Collection-level vs. item-level

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How to describe ?
  • Describe what?
  • The image itself? Or
  • The building?
  • The building as a building? Or
  • A building which has a historical importance?

41
Work vs. Image
  • A work is a physical entity that exists, has
    existed at some time in the past, or that could
    exist in the future.
  • An image is a visual representation of a work. 
    It can exist in photomechanical, photographic and
    digital formats. 

42
Work vs. Image
  • A digital collection needs to decide what is the
    entity of their collection
  • works,
  • images, or
  • both?
  • How many metadata records are needed for each
    entity?
  • Some part of the data can be reused.
  • E.g., one work has different images or different
    formats

43
Document-like vs. non-document-like
  • Each object usually has the following
    characteristics
  • being in three dimensions,
  • having multiple components
  • carrying information about history, culture, and
    society, and
  • demonstrating in detail about style, pattern,
    material, color, technique, etc.

44
Textual vs. Non-textual
  • Text
  • Would allow for full text searching or automatic
    extraction of keywords.
  • Marked by HTML or XML tags.
  • Tags have semantic meanings.
  • Non-textual, e.g., images
  • Only the captions, file names can be searched,
    not the image itself.
  • Need transcribing or interpreting.
  • Need more detailed metadata to describe its
    contents.
  • Need knowledge to give a deeper interpretation.

45
Determining What Metadata is Needed
  • Who are your users? (current as well as
    potential) (e.g., library or registrarial staff,
    curators, professors, advanced researchers,
    students, general public, non-native English
    speakers)
  • What information do you already have (even if
    its only on index cards or in paper files)?
  • What information is already in automated form?
  • What metadata categories are you currently using?
    Are they adequate for all potential uses and
    users? Do they map to any standard?
  • What is an adequate core record?
  • Is your data clean and consistent enough to
    migrate? (You may consider re-keying in some
    cases.)

46
Data Standards Essential Steps
  • First Step Select and Use Appropriate Metadata
    Elements
  • Data Structure Standards (a.k.a. metadata
    standards)
  • Elements describing the structure of metadata
    records What elements should a record include?
  • Meant to be customized according to
    institutional needs
  • MARC, EAD, MODS, Dublin Core, CDWA, VRA Core are
    examples of data structure standards

47
A Typology of Data Standards
  • Data structure standards (metadata element sets)
  • MARC, EAD, Dublin Core, CDWA, VRA Core, TEI
  • Data value standards (vocabularies)
  • LCSH, LCNAF, TGM, AAT, ULAN, TGN, ICONCLASS
  • Data content standards (cataloging rules)
  • AACR (?RDA), ISBD, CCO, DACS
  • Data format/technical interchange standards
    (metadata standards expressed in machine-readable
    form)
  • MARC, MARCXML, MODS, EAD, CDWA Lite XML, Dublin
    Core Simple XML schema, VRA Core 4.0 XML schema,
    TEI XML DTD

48
Data Standards Essential Steps
  • Second Step Select and Use Vocabularies,
    Thesauri, local authority files
  • Data Value Standards
  • Data values are used to populate or fill
    metadata elements
  • Examples are LSCH, AAT, TGM, MeSH, ICONCLASS,
    etc., as well as collection-specific thesauri
    controlled lists
  • Used as controlled vocabularies or authorities to
    assist with documentation and cataloging
  • Used as research tools vocabularies contain
    rich information and contextual knowledge
  • Used as search assistants in database retrieval
    systems or with online collections

49
Data Standards Essential Steps
  • Third Step Follow Guidelines for Documentation
  • Data Content Standards
  • Best practices for documentation (i.e.
    implementing data structure and data value
    standards)
  • Rules for the selection, organization, and
    formatting of content
  • AACR (Anglo American Cataloguing Rules), CCO
    (Cataloging Cultural Objects), DACS (Describing
    Archives A Content Standard), local cataloging
    rules

50
Data Standards Essential Steps
  • Fourth Step
  • Select the Appropriate Format for
    Expressing/Publishing Data
  • DATA FORMAT STANDARDS
  • How will you publish and share your data in
    electronic form?
  • How will service providers obtain, add value to,
    and disseminate your data?
  • Some candidates are Dublin Core XML MARC21 MARC
    XML CDWA Lite XML schema MODS, etc.

51
Metadata for the Web
  • The Web is not a library!
  • Web searching is abysmal
  • Some (primitive) Web metadata exists, but few
    implement with consistency
  • TITLE html tag
  • DESCRIPTION meta tag
  • KEYWORDS meta tag
  • No index, no follow meta tag

52
Indexing for the Internet
  • End-users tend to employ broader, more generic
    terms than catalogers (folk classification)
  • Indexers must try to anticipate what terms
    users, who typically have information gaps,
    would use to find the item in hand
  • Users shouldnt be required to input the right
    term

53
Speaking of the Web...
  • Are your collections reachable by commercial
    search engines? (Visible Web vs. Deep Web)
  • If yes, how will you contextualize individual
    collection objects?
  • If not, what is your strategy to lead Web users
    to your search page?
  • Contributing to union catalogs (via metadata
    harvesting, etc.) will provide greater exposure
    for your collections

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The Google Factor
  • What Google looks at
  • title tag
  • text on the Web page
  • referring links
  • What Google doesnt look at (usually)
  • Keywords meta tag
  • Description meta tag

56
searchenginewatch.com provides information on
how commercial search engines work
57
Good Metadata
  • facilitates data mapping, rationalization
    harmonization, and thus makes interoperability
    (federated searching, cross-collection searching)
    possible, and possibly understandable

58
Practical Principles for Metadata Creation and
Maintenance
  • Metadata creation is one of the core activities
    of collecting and memory institutions.
  • Metadata creation is an incremental process and
    should be a shared responsibility
  • Metadata rules and processes must be enforced in
    all appropriate units of an institution.

59
Practical Principles for Metadata Creation and
Maintenance
  • Adequate, carefully thought-out staffing levels
    including appropriate skill sets are essential
    for the successful implementation of a cohesive,
    comprehensive metadata strategy.
  • Institutions must build heritability of metadata
    into core information systems.

60
Practical Principles for Metadata Creation and
Maintenance
  • There is no "one-size-fits-all" metadata schema
    or controlled vocabulary or data content
    (cataloging) standard
  • Institutions must streamline metadata production
    and replace manual methods of metadata creation
    with "industrial" production methods wherever
    possible and appropriate.

61
Practical Principles for Metadata Creation and
Maintenance
  • Institutions should make the creation of
    shareable, re-purposable metadata a routine part
    of their work flow.
  • Research and documentation of rights metadata
    must be an integral part of an institution's
    metadata workflow.
  • A high-level understanding of the importance of
    metadata and buy-in from upper management are
    essential for the successful implementation of a
    metadata strategy.

62
Metadata Principles
  • Metadata Principle 1 Good metadata conforms to
    community standards in a way that is appropriate
    to the materials in the collection, users of the
    collection, and current and potential future uses
    of the collection.
  • Metadata Principle 2 Good metadata supports
    interoperability.
  • Metadata Principle 3 Good metadata uses
    authority control and content standards to
    describe objects and collocate related objects.

63
Metadata Principles
  • Metadata Principle 4 Good metadata includes a
    clear statement of the conditions and terms of
    use for the digital object
  • Metadata Principle 5 Good metadata supports the
    long-term management, curation, and preservation
    of objects in collections.
  • Metadata Principle 6 Good metadata records are
    objects themselves and therefore should have the
    qualities of good objects, including authority,
    authenticity, archivability, persistence, and
    unique identification.

64
Metadata
  • Metadatawhich in many ways can be seen as a
    late 20th-early 21st-century synonym for
    catalogingis seen as an increasingly important
    (albeit frequently sloppy, and often confounding)
    aspect of the explosion of information available
    in electronic form, and of individuals and
    institutions attempts to provide online access
    to their collections.

65
Metadata for enhancedaccess
  • Librarians, archivists, and museum documentation
    specialists can and should make metadata creation
    into a viable, effective tool for enhancing
    access to the myriad resources that are now
    available in electronic form. The judicious,
    carefully considered combination of various
    standards can facilitate this. Mixing and
    matching ??A recent trend in metadata creation is
    schemaagnostic metadata.

66
Description as a collaborativeprocess
  • Description (a.k.a. cataloging) should be seen as
    a collaborative, incremental process, rather than
    an activity that takes place exclusively in a
    single department within an institution (in
    libraries, this has traditionally been the
    technical services department).
  • Metadata creation in the age of digital resources
    can and indeed should in many cases be a
    collaborative effort in which a variety of
    metadatatechnical, descriptive, administrative,
    rights-related, and so on) is added incrementally
    by trained staff in a variety of departments,
    including but not limited to the registrars
    office, digital imaging and digital asset
    management units, processing and cataloging
    units, and conservation and curatorial
    departments.
  • What about expert social tagging?

67
What will it take?
  • Technical infrastructure and tools
  • Behavioral/cultural and organizational changes
  • Hard work, and a more production oriented
    approach (more efficient workflows, decision
    trees, use of quotas, etc.)

68
Some Emerging Trends in Metadata Creation
  • Schema-agnostic metadata
  • Metadata that is both shareable and re-purposable
  • Harvestable metadata (OAI/PMH)
  • Non-exclusive/cross-cultural metadatai.e.,
    its okay to combine standards from different
    metadata communitiese.g. MARC and CCO, DACS and
    AACR, DACS and CCO, EAD and CDWA Lite, etc.
  • Importance of controlled vocabularies
    authoritiesand difficulties in bringing along
    the power of vocabularies in a shared metadata
    environment
  • The need for practical, economically feasible
    approaches to metadata creation

69
Metadata Librarians a.k.a. Catalogers?
  • Collaboration, not isolation
  • Metadata librarians dont catalog
  • Emphasis on the collection, not the item in
    hand
  • Sometimes good enough is good enough
  • Collection size
  • Uniqueness
  • Online access
  • No more monoliths
  • LCSH off with its head?

70
Metadata Good Practices
  • Adherence to standards
  • Planning for persistence and maintenance
  • Documentation
  • Guidelines expressing community consensus
  • Specific practices and interpretation
  • Vocabulary usage
  • Application profiles
  • Without good metadata and good practices,
    interoperability will not work

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