Lecture 6

Question 1

metadata

Answer 1

• What you’re looking at, who made it and when, how it got there, what it means, and what you’re allowed to do with it…before you even look at (or into) the actual thing.
• Generally structured
• Often Computer friendly
• Info about a thing that is not actually the thing itself

Question 2

where is metadata kept?

Answer 2

• Embedded in the item itself

- Or kept separately

Question 3

Is metadata copyrightable?

Answer 3

• insofar as it’s factual, it’s not eligible for copyright
• Insofar as it involves original expression…it may be
• Who cares? Search-engine builders!

Question 4

informal metadata =

Answer 4

• tags
• It’s mostly a memory aid, and mostly for you
• It doesn’t really matter all that much what order you put things in, how you phrase them, whether you’re consistent about it across everything you tag, whether your metadata ae computable

Question 5

Formal metadata =

Answer 5

• standards

- Chances are you’ll have to make metadata for your digital stuff at some point

Question 6

Why are there so many standards?

Answer 6

• Different things described
• Different purposes
• Different provider and user communities
• Levels of detail/specificity

Question 7

Dublin Core

Answer 7

• Ubiquitous metadata standard, perhaps more than it should be
• Simple, probably more than it should be
• Expressible in many syntaxes