Metadata for Media Files¶
Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Source: NISO (2004) Understanding Metadata. Bethesda, NISO Press.
Metadata is used to describe text, images, video, sound, movement, objects, or events. It can be used to describe a physical object, a digital creation, or a digital photograph of a physical object. This application used a simple standard published by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. It structures the metadata into 15 elements, each of which describes a different aspect of a resource.
None of the metadata elements are required, and they can all be repeated if needed.
Most of the text below has been copied from the Dublin Core Usage Guide. In the text that follows, “resource” means any describable object, which in the application is a media file.
Title¶
The name given to the resource. Typically, a Title will be a name by which the resource is formally known. If in doubt about what constitutes the title, repeat the Title element and include the variants in second and subsequent Title iterations.
Creator¶
An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource. Examples of a Creator include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically the name of the Creator should be used to indicate the entity.
Creators should be listed separately, preferably in the same order that they appear in the publication. Personal names should be listed surname or family name first, followed by forename or given name. When in doubt, give the name as it appears, and do not invert.
In the case of organizations where there is clearly a hierarchy present, list the parts of the hierarchy from largest to smallest, separated by full stops and a space. If it is not clear whether there is a hierarchy present, or unclear which is the larger or smaller portion of the body, give the name as it appears in the item.
If the Creator and Publisher are the same, do not repeat the name in the Publisher area. If the nature of the responsibility is ambiguous, the recommended practice is to use Publisher for organizations, and Creator for individuals. In cases of lesser or ambiguous responsibility, other than creation, use Contributor.
Subject¶
The topic of the content of the resource. Typically, a Subject will be expressed as keywords or key phrases or classification codes that describe the topic of the resource. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.
Select subject keywords from the Title or Description information, or from within a text resource. If the subject of the item is a person or an organization, use the same form of the name as you would if the person or organization were a Creator or Contributor.
In general, choose the most significant and unique words for keywords, avoiding those too general to describe a particular item. Subject might include classification data if it is available (for example, Library of Congress Classification Numbers or Dewey Decimal numbers) or controlled vocabularies (such as Medical Subject Headings or Art and Architecture Thesaurus descriptors) as well as keywords.
When including terms from multiple vocabularies, use separate element iterations. If multiple vocabulary terms or keywords are used, either separate terms with semi-colons or use separate iterations of the Subject element.
Description¶
An account of the content of the resource. Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content.
Since the Description field is a potentially rich source of indexable terms, care should be taken to provide this element when possible. Best practice recommendation for this element is to use full sentences, as description is often used to present information to users to assist in their selection of appropriate resources from a set of search results.
Descriptive information can be copied or automatically extracted from the item if there is no abstract or other structured description available. Although the source of the description may be a web page or other structured text with presentation tags, it is generally not good practice to include HTML or other structural tags within the Description element. Applications vary considerably in their ability to interpret such tags, and their inclusion may negatively affect the interoperability of the metadata.
Publisher¶
The entity responsible for making the resource available. Examples of a Publisher include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name of a Publisher should be used to indicate the entity.
The intent of specifying this field is to identify the entity that provides access to the resource. If the Creator and Publisher are the same, do not repeat the name in the Publisher area. If the nature of the responsibility is ambiguous, the recommended practice is to use Publisher for organizations, and Creator for individuals. In cases of ambiguous responsibility, use Contributor.
Note
In this application, Between the Digital is publishing the media files and should probably be included as a publisher. There may be more than one publisher, especially if the media file has been published elsewhere.
Contributor¶
An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the resource. Examples of a Contributor include a person, an organization or a service. Typically, the name of a Contributor should be used to indicate the entity.
The same general guidelines for using names of persons or organizations as Creators apply here. Contributor is the most general of the elements used for “agents” responsible for the resource, so should be used when primary responsibility is unknown or irrelevant.
Note
Anyone listed as a creator should not also be listed as a contributor.
Date¶
A date associated with an event in the life cycle of the resource. Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or availability of the resource. Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is to use the YYYY-MM-DD format.
Note
The date or date range that media file was created (not uploaded to the website) is a good starting point. If the file was significantly altered at a later date, that date should also be included.
If the full date is unknown, month and year (YYYY-MM) or just year (YYYY) may be used.
Type¶
The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a the list below.
Text
Image
Sound
Video
Catalogue
Note
This field doesn’t describe the format of a digital image, only that the item is a digital image.
Note
If you are describing a catalog of a an exhibition which contains images and descriptions of the works, you might want to include both Text and Image types.
If the resource is composed of multiple mixed types then multiple or repeated Type elements should be used to describe the main components.
Format¶
The physical or digital manifestation of the resource. Typically, Format may include the media-type or dimensions of the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Format may be used to determine the software, hardware or other equipment needed to display or operate the resource.
In addition to the specific physical or electronic media format, information concerning the size of a resource may be included in the content of the Format element if available. In resource discovery size, extent or medium of the resource might be used as a criterion to select resources of interest, since a user may need to evaluate whether they can make use of the resource within the infrastructure available to them.
When more than one category of format information is included in a single record, they should go in separate iterations of the element.
Note
The application will attempt to create Format entries when a media file is uploaded. You can add additional entries if needed.
Identifier¶
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context.
This element can also be used for local identifiers (e.g. ID numbers or call numbers) assigned by the Creator of the resource to apply to a particular item. It should not be used for identification of the metadata record itself.
Note
The application will fill in the identifier with the original name of the file as it was uploaded.
Source¶
A Reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived. The present resource may be derived from the Source resource in whole or part.
Note
This element doesn’t describe how the item was acquired. It isn’t likely to be used for original works of art.
Language¶
A language of the intellectual content of the resource. Either a coded value or text string can be represented here. If the content is in more than one language, the element may be repeated. Examples include “en” for English, or “Primarily English, with some abstracts also in French.”
Relation¶
A reference to a related resource. Relationships may be expressed reciprocally (if the resources on both ends of the relationship are being described) or in one direction only. If text is used instead of identifying numbers, the reference should be appropriately specific. For instance, a formal bibliographic citation might be used to point users to a particular resource.
Coverage¶
The extent or scope of the content of the resource. Coverage will typically include a location (a place name or geographic co-ordinates), time period (a period label, date, or date range) or jurisdiction (such as a named administrative entity).
Where appropriate, named places or time periods should be used in preference to numeric identifiers such as sets of co-ordinates or date ranges.
Whether this element is used for spatial or temporal information, care should be taken to provide consistent information that can be interpreted by human users. For most applications, place names or coverage dates might be most useful.
Rights¶
Information about rights held in and over the resource. Typically a Rights element will contain a rights management statement for the resource, or reference a service providing such information.
The Rights element may be used for either a textual statement or a URL pointing to a rights statement, or a combination, when a brief statement and a more lengthy one are available.
