Metadata and Web Content Management

1. Metadata and Web Content Management Sam Gallagher Departmental Web Manager U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

2. Role of Metadata • What is the role of metadata in web content management? • The answer varies from office to office, agency to agency. • The role of metadata varies from “none at all” to being an integral tool in managing web content.

3. Role of Metadata • For most of us, metadata isn’t new, just reborn. • Many agencies have been using “description” and “keywords” for years with little guidance and no consistency. • Agencies that do use metadata consistently, built it into the content creation process. • The rest of us are trying to find our way through the jungle of terms, standards, and concepts.

4. Web Content Management • Web Content Management also varies by agency • Some content managers are also content owners • Some are editors • Others simply manage the content design/flow, but rely on content creators/editors • There are varying levels of understanding of the concept of metadata

5. Web Content Management • However, there are some commonalities • Our websites are huge • HUD’s for example is something over 200,000 documents • Our websites change frequently • Last Friday alone, HUD made over 700 changes. • Our website have become increasingly difficult to maintain

6. Web Content Management • In addition to having too much content, there are also too many websites: more than 24,000 government websites at last count. • The total number of web documents in the Federal space isn’t known: easily millions. • There is a proliferation of portals. • FirstGov lists more than 90 Portals. • Instead of reducing the clutter, many portals end up as duplicating navigational structures to content that already exists.

7. Web Content Management • And, there are a host of regulations and standards to follow. • The Web Content Managers Working Group found over 16 laws, regulations, or policies directly affecting federal public websites.

8. Role of Metadata • What we are beginning to learn is Metadata can be a tool for helping us meet some of these demands.

9. Web Managers Advisory Council • Created in January 2004 as part of the Interagency Committee on Government Information. • Originally known as the Web Content Management Working Group. • An interagency group of 30 web managers, with representatives from every cabinet-level agency and many independent agencies.

10. Web Managers Advisory Council • Tasked with recommending policies and guidelines to OMB for all federal public websites. • Group issued its recommendations in June 2004 to OMB. • OMB issued policies for federal public websites on December 17, 2004.

11. Web Managers Advisory Council • After policies were issued, web managers saw the need for continuing discussions. • The Web Managers Working Group became the Advisory Council: a community of web managers helping web managers.

12. The Metadata Discussion • One of the recommendations to OMB was the use of a standardized set of metadata. “Federal public websites must include metadata on the homepage and all major entry points”

13. The Metadata Discussion • The arguments for standard metadata included: • improve search relevancy, • provide an audit trail, • support website maintenance and administration, and • allow information to be tracked and assembled government-wide.

14. The Metadata Discussion • The arguments against standard metadata included: • Commercial searches don’t use metadata • Time/resource consuming • Education requirements • Too many documents to encode

15. The Metadata Discussion • During the comment period, 38 comments were received specifically relating to metadata--nearly all were positive. • In the end, the consensus was that the potential benefits could outweigh the costs. • Discussion then centered on how many and which elements to promote.

16. The Recommendation • The Working Group agreed on: • Mandatory use of 6 elements • Require use of metadata on homepage and major entry points only • If an agency wanted to use more elements, refer to Dublin Core

17. The Recommendation • The 6 elements agreed upon were: • Title • Description • Creator • Date Created • Date Reviewed • Language

18. OMB’s Policies • OMB did not choose to specifically include metadata in their policies. • However, the Web Managers Advisory Council continues to promote the use of standard metadata. • Created the Metadata Task Group to continue the discussion and promote the use of metadata.

19. Metadata Standards • While no standard has been issued, consensus has centered on the use of the Dublin Core metadata standard. • Already existing international standard • Relatively easy to implement • Already used by Great Britain, Canada, Australia and several federal agencies in the U.S.

20. Metadata Standards • Based on the consensus to use Dublin Core, the Web Advisory Council is now advising agencies to use the following elements: • dc.title • dc.description • dc.creator • dc.date.created • dc.date.reviewed • dc.language

21. Metadata Standards • While not yet a “recommendation,” there is a growing discussion on the need for standardized vocabularies for: • dc.audience • dc.subject • Some limited work is underway to create a controlled vocabulary for audience.

22. The Role of Metadata • Web managers throughout the federal government struggle with some of the same issues: • It is often difficult to find out who “owns” content • Ensuring content remains current and accurate is a monumental undertaking • Competition for space on the front page makes it difficult to get people to the content they need.

23. The Role of Metadata • The role of metadata in web management comes back to those “pros” • improve search relevancy, • provide an audit trail, • support website maintenance and administration, and • allow information to be tracked and assembled government-wide.

24. Improve Search Relevancy • While commercial searches like Google and Yahoo may not use metadata YET: • We could use metadata to improve the searches on our own sites • FirstGov, while not currently set-up to take advantage of metadata, could be in the future • “If you build it, they will come…”

25. Provide an Audit Trail • Several of the elements were selected for their ability to create an audit trail. For example: • Creator identifies who/which office is responsible for the content • Date Reviewed identifies old, possibly obsolete, documents

26. Support Website Maintenance • Metadata gives us a method for: • Tracking down who is responsible for content • Ensuring content is current/accurate • Archiving appropriate content from one administration to the next • Identifying content by language

27. Aggregate Content • With the use of Audience and Subject, we could: • Discover redundant/duplicative content • Find content that needs to be “brought up” to higher levels of the website • Aggregate content from within our organizations and across organizations • This could lead to reducing the need for portals.

28. What is being done now? • Metadata has been the subject of a session at each of the last three web content managers conferences. • Interest is high, but there are still doubts • Metadata task group of the Web Advisory Council is: • Creating guidance/tools for implementing metadata • Beginning work on a controlled vocabulary for Audience

29. Next Steps • There needs to be a proven benefit • We’ve made one attempt to show how metadata could be used across agencies

30. Next Steps • Metadata has to be easily implemented • Simple tools need to be developed • Tools should be integrated into the content creation process • Education developed on the benefits gained by the consistent use of metadata

31. Conclusion • The role of metadata in web content management is just beginning • We see the potential • We have some tentative first steps • We need successes to trumpet to build the momentum

32. Conclusion • Web Advisory Council: • Continues to meet once a month. • Plans and holds web manager conferences • Manages a website: www.webcontent.gov • Hurricane Katrina: www.youragency.gov/katrina

33. Conclusion • Contact info: Kate Donohue E-mail: kathleen.donohue@occ.treas.gov Phone: 202-874-4976 Jeffrey Levy E-mail: Levy.Jeffrey@epa.gov Phone: 202-564-9727

34. Questions/Comments? • Metadata task group • Sam Gallagher202-708-1547sam_r._gallagher@hud.gov