Metadata Notes

AITopics > Project Notes > Technical Information > Metadata Notes

Starting points for AI index terms

• AITopics
• Russell, S. J. and Norvig, P. 2003. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition). Pearson Education (Index).
• ACM Computing Classification System (1998)
• AI Films Timeline - from "Recovering MIT's AI Film History" Web site. Could index by names, dates, events, ...

Metadata Standards used by archivists (with input from Gabrielle Michalek)

• METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard) - "The METS schema is a standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library, expressed using the XML schema language." A METS document has the following components:
  1. Primary XML Schema (METS Document) structure
     • METS Header - Metadata regarding METS document. Creation/Last Modification Date/Record Status, Document Agents (Creator, Editor, Archivist, Preservation, Disseminator, Rights Owner, Custodian, etc.), Alternative Record ID values.
     • Descriptive Metadata - Points to descriptive metadata associated with entirety of METS object or components. May be either external (referenced by XLink) (e.g., a MARC record in an OPAC or an EAD finding aid maintained on a Web server) or embedded in the METS document (XML or binary). The METS editorial board has endorsed three descriptive metadata schemes:
       • Dublin Core - A set of elements with simple rules that can be applied by noncataloguers for a wide variety of objects (e.g, books, journals, photographs, Web pages, etc.). The elements include: Title, Creator, Subject, Description, Publisher, Contributor, Data, Type, Format, Identifier, Source, Language, Relation, Coverage and Rights.
       • MARCXML (MARC 21 Schema)
       • MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) - Descriptive metadata schema for expressing bibliographic data. MODS can be seen as an alternative to the MARC format. A particular MODS focus is rich description of electronic resources.
     Could also be:

     • EAD (Encoded Archival Description) - A way of marking up the data contained in finding aids for archival collections so they can be searched and displayed online. Much more to be said here ... TBD.
     • Administrative Metadata - Associated with entirety of METS object or components. May be internal (XML/binary) or external (XLink) to METS document. There are recommended schemata (more on this later).
       • Technical Metadata (how the files are created and stored). The METS Web site makes available schemas for text and images. Schemas for audio, video and Web sites are evolving.
         • MIX (Metadata for Images in XML Schema)
         • VIDEOMD (Video Technical Metadata Extension Schema)
       • Intellectual Property Rights Metadata
       • Preservation Metadata
       • Source Document (the original source object from which the digital library object derives)
       • Digital Provenance (of the component files)
     • File Section - Lists all files that comprise the digital object. Contains file-specific technical metadata (checksum, file size, creation date/time) as well as file content. Files are arranged in groups (which may be hierarchical) according to format(tiff, hi-res jpeg, med-res jpeg, gif, etc.). Files may be referenced (using Xlink) or contained within the METS document (in XML or as Base64 Binary).
     • Structural Map - Outlines a hierarchical structure of "Divisions" for the digital library object and links the elements of that structure to content files and descriptive / administrative metadata that pertain to each element (e.g., book with chapters, sections, subsections). More than one structure may be specified (logical structure and physical structure). A Division may point to a file in the file list, or to a particular area in that file (e.g., a BeginTime and EndTime or Extent in an A/V file) or to an external METS object.
     • Structural Links - Records links between nodes in the Structural Map. Uses XLink/Xptr syntax.
     • Behavior(s) - Associates executable behaviors with content in the METS object. May provide information on API, service location, etc.
  2. Extension Schema
     • Descriptive Metadata (DC [Dublin Core], MARC, MODS)
     • Administrative Metadata
       • Technical (image, text, audio, video)
       • IP Rights (XrML, ODRL, MPEG 21, DRM Core)
       • Digital Provenance (capture/migration)
  3. Controlled Vocabularies
     • Known metadata types
     • Known file address types (Xptr, time code, etc.)
     • METS Profiles: Human-readable XML documents intended to describe a class of METS documents in sufficient detail to provide both document authors and programmers the guidance they require to create and process METS documents conforming with a particular profile.
• PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) Working Group
• TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange - for marking up electronic texts such as novels, plays and poetry, primarily to support research in the humanities. Specifies a TEI Header. TEI Lite is commonly used by libraries.
• MPEG-7. How does this integrate with METS?

Resources

• Understanding Metadata. NISO Press, June, 2004. Very useful article. Succinctly describes the various standards and their uses.
• Jerome McDonough. Introduction to METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard), 26-Feb-2004.
• Howard D. Wactlar and Michael G. Christel. Digital Video Archives: Managing Through Metadata. Lessons learned from the CMU Informedia Project.
• Inventory of Metadata for Multimedia. Henny Bekker, Ivana Belgers and Peter Valkenburg. SURFnet, September 2000.