Week 5 Blog Post

Setting the Stage

·         Metadata means data about data.

·          People use and understand this word different.

·          Organizing metadata has become increasingly digital.  This has given the public the ability and opportunity to do what was previously the sole job of the information professional.

·                       Content- what it  contains/about and is intrinsic to an information object.

·                       Context- indicates the who, what, why, where, and how aspects associated with the object's creation and is extrinsic to an information object.

·                       Structure relates to the formal set of associations within or among individual information objects and can be intrinsic or extrinsic or both.

• Museum/heritage/collection information professionals use the term metadata to describe the added-value information they handle.

•  Library metadata includes indexes, abstracts, and bibliographic records, available physically and digitally. 

•  A great deal of this information is generate from computers.

• Archival metadata has become more widely distributed
• Visual cues are provided to the researchers so they can see the structural relationships between manuscript and record series
• Some have argued that hierarchial metadata is beneficial to the scholarly user, but not the non-expert user.
• Upkeep of metadata may be extremely beneficial for communities, but may only be fesiable for legal reasons because it requires so much work
• User created meta data has become increasingly popular through the use of the web (sites like flickr and youtube)
• This is beneficial because it helps store information in ways that make sense to them- language a professional or “outsider” may not understand
• Information objects accumulate layers of metadata
• Highly recommended that information become embedded and stored in the object- NOT somewhere else

Primary Functions of Metadata

Creation, multiversioning, reuse, and recontextualization of information objects, Organization and description, Validation, Utilization and preservation, Disposition. 

Some reasons why metadata is beneficial: Increased accessibility, Retention of context, Expanding use

An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative= (DCMI) 

DCMI- trying to identify common multi-discipline qualifiers to support richer description requirements

• Identifies common descriptive concepts in different languages
• Attempts to mix semantics because there will never be one that is all inclusive
• Metadata creators need to understand all specific vocab that different organizations may have
• Anything with an identity can be a resource, even a human!!
• Literals = simple text string
•   Must be able to specify a particular encoding scheme for interpretation of some types of metadata. 
• Data typing helps identify a specific encoding theme
• A formalized data model is imperative to ensure practicality and functionality requirements

EndNote X5: Introduction

• Endnote is a bibliography tool.

• Helps organize and reference list and specify them to the users need

• Creates citations

• Can help create a personal library of references

MUDDIEST POINT:

I did not have a muddiest point this week.