Transcript An Introduction to metadata for Research Data Australia

Introduction to
Metadata: Describing
datasets
CQU Librarians workshop, 11 February 2015
Kathryn Unsworth - Data Librarian
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Refer to image called “Metadata simply explained”
http://www.datamation.com/cnews/article.php/3878261/Tech-Comics-Whats-Metadata.htm
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What is metadata?
Metadata is a means of collecting or structuring data about the content
of other data
Example: catalogue record
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What is Metadata? continued…
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WHO created the data?
WHAT is the content of the data?
WHEN were the data created?
WHERE is it geographically?
HOW were the data developed?
WHY were the data developed?
DataOne Education Modules (No.7 Metadata - https://www.dataone.org/education-modules
Photo by Michelle Chang. All Rights Reserved
Metadata is data ‘reporting’
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Basics of metadata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0vc6LeVa14
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Describing publications is easy, but
data….?
Research data varies widely between and within disciplines:
▪ Methods of data collection
▪ Number, type and size of data files
▪ Electronic/physical resources or combinations of
▪ Software/hardware dependencies
▪ Contextual information
▪ Legal restrictions
▪ Ethical restrictions
▪ Access restrictions
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Descriptive metadata (intellectual content)
Administrative metadata (rights,
technical, preservation)
Structural metadata (relationship
between the parts)
Discovery/access points
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The value of metadata
Metadata
helps…
Data
(re)users
Organisations
Data producers and data (re)users
 When data producers provide data to other
researchers, what types of information would they want
to include with the data to ensure appropriate
interpretations of their research?
 When data re-users receive a dataset from an external
source, what types of details would they want to know
about the data?
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Metadata standards – why we need them
▪ A standard provides us with a common way of
describing information resources:
 Common terms to allow consistency between
records
 Common definitions for easier interpretation
 Common language for ease of communication
 Common structure to quickly locate information
 To facilitate exchange of data between systems –
interoperability
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http://researchdata.ands.org.au
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Metadata pathways to RDA
 Create records manually in the ANDS Registry
 Create automatic RIF-CS feed for harvesting by ANDS into
RDA
 Configure your harvest for schema that is not RIF-CS,
eg.CKAN, ISO19115
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My pick: Top three take-away messages
1. Metadata is data ‘reporting’
2. Describing data is not as straightforward as
describing traditional research outputs, that’s why
schema standards are so critical
3. Metadata is important to data producers, data reusers and organisations
1. Visibility and impact of the data (citable)
2. Discovery/findability and evaluation of the data
3. Institutional reputation and memory
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Timelapse: What is metadata?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulArB9DAnW4
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Acknowledgements
DataONE Education Module: Metadata. DataONE. Retrieved Nov12, 2012.
From http://www.dataone.org/sites/all/documents/L07_Metadata.pptx
Geek & Poke. (2015). Simply explained: Metadata.
http://www.datamation.com/cnews/article.php/3878261/Tech-ComicsWhats-Metadata.htm
meta|morphosis: film-to-digital tutorials. (2012). basics of metadata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0vc6LeVa14
Toroisebutler. (2010). Timelapse: What is metadata?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulArB9DAnW4
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License
ANDS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative
Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
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