Instructor: Marcia Lei Zeng, Ph.D., Professor
Principles and theories of metadata development in the digital environment. Main focus is given to the design and applications of metadata schemas for distinct domains and information communities, issues in metadata interoperability, vocabulary control, quality control and evaluation. Examination of international standards, activities and projects with the use of case study approach.
After completing the course, students will be able to:
1. understand the principles, concepts and types of metadata;
2. explore various metadata schemes and element sets for specific domains;
3. understand different issues in the applications of metadata standards in a larger context of a project, a community, and the society;
4. gain experience in applying a selected metadata standard to records or collections;
5. develop metadata element sets and create application profiles by designing, evaluating, and modifying metadata elements according to local needs;
6. create and implement controlled vocabularies for metadata value spaces; and
7. implement metadata decisions in a digital library project.
Aug. 31 (Week 1)
1. Metadata development overview
1.1 The word "metadata"
1.2 Pre-Internet era of metadata
1.3 The Internet arena and evolving metadata traditions
2. Metadata records
2.1. Embedded in a digital object
2.2 Stand-alone records displayed in databases
3. Metadata types and functions
3.1 Metadata type taxonomies
3.2 Functions
Assignment: Reading1. Hodge, Gail (2001).
Sept. 7 (Week 2)
4. Current standards
4.1 Information resource description
4.1.1 DUBLIN CORE
• The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set
• Other Elements and Element Refinements
• Encoding Schemes
4.1.2 Value space I: Non-subject values such as language, date, and format
Assignment: Schema assignment 1.
Sept. 14 (Week 3)
4.2 Bibliographic description
4.2.1 MARC family
o MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging)
o MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema)
o MARCXML
4.2.2 Value space II. Name authority control
Assignment: Schema assignment 2.
Sept. 21 (Week 4)
4.3 Culture Objects
4.3.1 Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA)
• CDWA Core
4.3.3 Value space III. Using authority files for place names and subjects
4.3.4 Others
• CDWA Lite
• OBJECT ID
Assignment: Schema assignment 3.
Sept. 28 (Week 5)
4.4 Visual resources
4.4.1 VRA Core Categories version 3.0
4.4.2 Best Practice: Cataloguing Culture Objects
4.4.3 Others
• IPTC Metadata for Adobe's XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) framework
• VRA Core 4.0 draft
• NISO Metadata for Images in XML Schema (MIX)
4.4.4 Using software: Content DM
Assignment: Schema assignment 4.
Oct. 5 (Week 6)
4.5 Educational-purpose
4.5.1 Learning Object Metadata (LOM)
4.5.2 Value space IV. Controlled lists
4.5.3 Others:
• GEM Element Set, The Gateway to Educational Materials
• DC-Ed (Dublin Core Education Working Group) Extensions
• The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)
Assignment: Schema assignment 5.
Oct. 12 (Week 7)
4.6 Archives and preservation
4.6.1 EAD (Encoded Archival Description) DTD
4.6.2 PREMIS (Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies)
4.6.3 Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
Assignment: Schema Presentation (to be presented in two weeks)
Oct. 19 (Week 8) – class will not meet
Prepare for Schema Presentation
Oct. 26 (Week 9)
4.7 Other standards :
4.7.1 Agents
The Friend of a Friend (FOAF)
RDF-vCARD
4.7.2 E-commerce and Right Management
The INDECS project
ONIX (Online Information Exchange)
DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
4.7.3 Selected standards to be introduced by student presentations
Schema Presentation in class.
Nov. 2 (Week 10)
5. Working with metadata for your digital collection
5.1. Initial decisions
5.2. Developing a metadata element set (postcards)
In-class: Group work 1. Elements
Assignment: Reading 2. Baca, Murtha ed. 2000
(Your final project starts. Phase I: Define desired elements. Due in four weeks.)
Nov. 9 (Week 11)
5.3. Metadata value space
• Summary: Using authority files for names, titles, and subjects
In-Class: Group work 2. Vocabularies (postcards)
• Integration of controlled and uncontrolled vocabularies
Assignment: Reading 3. Caplan, Priscilla, 2000.
Nov. 10 (Week 12)
5.4 Application profiles
Analysis and creation of profiles based on existing standards
In-Class: Group work 3. Application profile
Assignment: Reading 4: Heery and Patel, 2000.
Nov. 16 (Week 13)
5.5. Metadata interoperability
• Mapping between different formats
In Class: Group work 4. Mapping & Crosswalking
• Metadata registries
• METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Scheme)
• RDF. W3C. Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification
• Summary: Metadata Interoperability approaches
Assignment: Reading 5: Duval, Erik, et al., 2002.
Nov. 23 No Class. Thanksgiving Day
Nov. 30 (Week 14)
Report and discussion of individual's final project phase I.
5.6. Metadata repositories
• The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting Protocol
• Policies, procedures, and best practices
In-Class: Group work 5. A complete element set
Dec. 7 (Week 15)
6. Evaluation, quality analysis and control
7. Metadata activities and trends
• W3C. Metadata activities
• International projects
Dec. 14 (Week 16)
Final project presentation
Summary and Conclusion
Baca, Murtha ed. (2000) Introduction to Metadata, Pathway to Digital Information. Getty Information Institute. URL: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/index.html
Duval, Erik, Wayne Hodgins, Stuart Sutton, Stuart L. Weibel (2002). Metadata Principles and Practicalities. D-Lib Magazine 8(4) URL: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april02/weibel/04weibel.html
Hodge, Gail (2001). Metadata Made Simpler. Bethesda , MD : NISO Press. ISBN: 1-880124-50-5. URL: http://www.niso.org/news/Metadata_simpler.pdf
Caplan, Priscilla (2000). International Metadata Initiatives: Lessons in Bibliographic Control. Paper presented at: Conference on Bibliographic Control in the New Millennium, Library of Congress, November, 2000. URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/caplan_paper.html