Metadata for Visual Resources
- 1. Metadata for Visual Resources Jenn Riley Head, Carolina Digital Library and Archives The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 2. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 How in the world am I supposed to deal with this?!? 2
- 3. 6/9/2011 SEI 2011 Don’t panic. You can make good decisions with the right information. We’ll begin with some theory, and then move on to practice. 3
- 4. SEI 2011 • “Data about data” • “Structured information about an information resource of any media type or format.” (Caplan) • “Structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource.” (NISO) • “Metadata is constructed, constructive, and actionable.” (Coyle) •… 6/9/2011 Many definitions of metadata 4
- 5. SEI 2011 • Other characteristics • Structure • Control • Origin • Machine-generated • Human-generated • The difference between data, metadata, and meta-metadata is often one of perspective 6/9/2011 Refining a definition 5
- 6. Slide labels Online catalogs Finding aids R e g i V R d Inventories a t a b a s SEI 2011 Catalog cards 6/9/2011 Some uses of metadata in cultural heritage institutions 6
- 7. Some types of metadata Type Use Technical metadata Interoperability Digital object management Preservation Preservation metadata Interoperability Preservation Rights metadata Interoperability Digital object management Structural metadata Navigation 6/9/2011 Searching Browsing Display Interoperability SEI 2011 Descriptive metadata 7
- 8. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Metadata in action Descriptive metadata Technical metadata Rights metadata Navigating between multiple views of the same image would be structural metadata. 8
- 9. We’ll primarily talk about descriptive metadata today SEI 2011 The lines between these types are rarely clear 6/9/2011 But… 9
- 10. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 And you also need to know about… 10 Chart by Elings & Waibel, “Metadata for All” <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1628/1543>
- 11. General principles to apply • Look to the community for best practices • Know why you’re doing something a certain way • Display, search, browse • Current and reasonable future discovery needs • If it’s not immediately justifiable, ask the hard questions • Avoid the temptation to over-describe • Document your decisions • Consider uses of your metadata beyond your local system SEI 2011 • Art images vs. documentary images • Pedagogical vs. museum object management vs. archival 6/9/2011 • Tie your choice of standards to your purpose 11
- 12. Let’s look at some options. 6/9/2011 SEI 2011 So now what? 12
- 13. • • • • • • VRA Core CDWA CDWA Lite MARC MODS Dublin Core • Data structure (technical) • MIX SEI 2011 • Data structure (descriptive) 6/9/2011 Some metadata standards of use to VR professionals • Data content • CCO • AACR2/RDA • DACS 13
- 14. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 MIX technical metadata 14 Caveat: this example is MIX 1.0, and the current version is 2.0.
- 15. SEI 2011 • Not many do, actually • Most of it should be automatically generated • Few if any systems the VR community uses support it • Much more common in the “digital library” world, for long-term preservation purposes 6/9/2011 Using MIX 15
- 16. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 CCO content standard 16 From http://cco.vrafoundation.org/
- 17. • Try to constrain the full standard for your local implementation • Don’t fret too much if your case isn’t covered or you find it ambiguous SEI 2011 • It’s OK to pick and choose when to apply it • It’s just a set of rules (that humans wrote) and therefore is wide open to interpretation 6/9/2011 Using a content standard • Provided examples are useful, but they’re not the rules • Alternatives to CCO • AACR2/RDA if you want a more “bibliographic” approach • DACS if you want a more archival approach, focusing on the description of whole collections rather than individual items 17
- 18. SEI 2011 • THIS is the metadata structure standard that you really need to know • Designed by visual resources specialists • Distinguishes between collection, work, and image • Schemas for “unrestricted” and “restricted” versions • Provides for values for both display and indexing • This isn’t common in other metadata standards • Focus on creation, style, culture • Best used on collections of reproductions of works of art & architecture 6/9/2011 Visual Resources Association Core Categories (VRA Core) 18
- 20. Let’s practice! Author: Ange Francois SEI 2011 Date: Unknown but not later than 1867 6/9/2011 Description: "Good memories" by Ange Francois, Belgian painter (18001867) Don’t worry about data values for now; we’ll get to that in a bit. 20 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:MemoriesAngeFrancois.jpeg
- 21. SEI 2011 • Strong museum, curatorial focus • Strong on culture, physical location • Meant to describe original works, not surrogates or reproductions • Best used for unique materials owned and managed by your institution • Base metadata format for many museum collection management systems • No formally specified encoding, but recommends storing data in a relational structure • Guidelines are nearly as prescriptive as a content standard 6/9/2011 Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) 21
- 23. And again… Author: Ange Francois SEI 2011 Date: Unknown but not later than 1867 6/9/2011 Description: "Good memories" by Ange Francois, Belgian painter (18001867) Don’t worry about data values for now; we’ll get to that in a bit. 23 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:MemoriesAngeFrancois.jpeg
- 24. CDWA Derivatives • Light Information Describing Object (LIDO) • Expansion of CDWA Lite • Combined with museumdat SEI 2011 • In XML • For data sharing 6/9/2011 • CDWA Lite = Simplified version of the full CDWA 24
- 25. • You wanted discovery through the library catalog • Your unit is an integral part of an academic library system and does not invest in an image database for teaching • You can do it, but it’s not a great fit • MARCXML sometimes used when MARC exists but an XML form is needed • I won’t suggest that we do a MARC exercise here. (Woohoo!) SEI 2011 • Used in library catalogs • Might use if 6/9/2011 MARC 25
- 26. SEI 2011 • Still “bibliographic” in nature • No natural places for some data elements, such as cultural origin of an object • Doesn’t make work vs. image distinction • Might use if: 6/9/2011 Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) • You’re integrating your VR material material into a wider digital library context • You are describing documentary images rather than art images • You already have a system that can handle it 26
- 27. And again… Author: Ange Francois SEI 2011 Date: Unknown but not later than 1867 6/9/2011 Description: "Good memories" by Ange Francois, Belgian painter (18001867) Don’t worry about data values for now; we’ll get to that in a bit. 27 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:MemoriesAngeFrancois.jpeg
- 28. SEI 2011 • An extremely basic metadata structure standard, originally developed for documents on the web • Intended to be core across all resource domains • This is the format used for the OAI-PMH metadata sharing protocol • Rarely if ever used as a native metadata format in the cultural heritage sector 6/9/2011 Simple Dublin Core 28
- 29. Qualified Dublin Core • Native format in some digital library systems • DSpace • CONTENTdm SEI 2011 • Additional elements • Element qualifiers • Syntax encoding schemes 6/9/2011 • A more robust version of simple Dublin Core • Might use if: • You’re integrating your VR material material into a wider digital library context • You are describing documentary images rather than art images • You already have a system that can handle it 29
- 30. And again… Author: Ange Francois SEI 2011 Date: Unknown but not later than 1867 6/9/2011 Description: "Good memories" by Ange Francois, Belgian painter (18001867) Don’t worry about data values for now; we’ll get to that in a bit. 30 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:MemoriesAngeFrancois.jpeg
- 31. Let’s think more carefully about what goes in those fields. 6/9/2011 SEI 2011 But that’s only the first step. Content standards + vocabulary control 31
- 32. SEI 2011 • Also known as: • Controlled vocabularies • Authority control • Use it for fields where: • You want browseability • Many different resources will have the same value in a field • One thing might be known by different names and it would be useful to discover those things together 6/9/2011 Vocabulary control 32
- 33. 6/9/2011 SEI 2011 Which fields in VRA core would benefit from vocabulary control? 33
- 34. SEI 2011 Most have a mechanism for new terms to be proposed 6/9/2011 Controlled vocabularies are highly specialized – other communities may have some that are useful for you Let’s look at some controlled vocabularies useful for VR collections 34
- 35. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) 35
- 36. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Thesaurus for Geographic Names (TGN) 36
- 37. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Union List of Artists’ Names (ULAN) 37
- 38. • • • • • • Creator Creation date Measurements Materials Current location Etc. SEI 2011 • Forthcoming 2012 from Getty vocabularies • Will include records at several different levels: item, group, collection, etc • Accepting contributions now • Records may include: 6/9/2011 Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA) 38
- 39. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) I & II 39
- 40. VRA Work Title ≈ CDWA Title Text ≈ MODS <titleInfo><title> A documented crosswalk lays the groundwork for automatically transforming metadata from one structure standard into another. SEI 2011 Surprise! You’ve done some of this already today. 6/9/2011 Metadata mapping 40
- 41. SEI 2011 6/9/2011 Much mapping work pre-exists for you How does our work matching up data between metadata 41 formats compare to this? http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/intrometadata/crosswalks.html
- 42. SEI 2011 • Let’s think about some additional implementation issues: • Store metadata internal to an image file or externally? • Store natively in XML or in a relational database or some other way? • How widely can/will you share your metadata? • What will your workflow look like? 6/9/2011 And that’s not all! • Description vs. authority control • Digitize first or describe first? • Is there any pre-existing metadata you can reuse? • What can you to in today’s implementation to make migration to future systems easier? 42
- 43. SEI 2011 • All of the systems you heard about earlier this week have limitations. (Sorry.) • Be informed so you can push where reasonable, and contribute effectively to system selection and implementation process • Be careful about hacking your data to accommodate a local system quirk 6/9/2011 Your interaction with the system 43
- 44. SEI 2011 • There’s an active metadata community to talk with • Increasingly catalogers are working closely with technical staff • Get some hands on practice! • I’d be happy to talk further: jennriley@unc.edu 6/9/2011 What’s next? 44 This work by Jenn Riley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Editor's Notes
- #20: Things to point out:* Work and image in separate records*Separate elements for display and indexing values*Use of controlled vocabularies*Connections to research relevant to the work
- #41: Mappings performed via XSLT, or a full programming language.
- #43: Have a group discussion about these issues.