Metadata

1. Research Data Management Metadata

2. Research Data ManagementData metadata • What is metadata? • Metadata is additional information that is required to make sense of your files – it’s data about data. • This is not a new idea; consider your music or film collection; • At least the title, authors, release date, producers, directors, etc. • Maybe the artwork, the studio, or the format it was released in such as LP (shown left), tape, CD, MD, Video, super 8, DVD, Blu-ray, 3D, etc. • All this information is metadata and allows you to make sense of the data and search the collection for the track that you're looking for. Getting Started with Research Data Management

3. Research Data ManagementData metadata How will you capture addition information? Music and Video embed a lot of information; File Info displayed using WinAmp Getting Started with Research Data Management

4. Research Data ManagementData metadata • You need to consider; • What contextual details are needed? • e.g. a description of the capture methods and data analysis. • How will you capture addition information? • e.g. in papers, in a database, in a ‘readme’ text file, in file properties/headers. • Which standards will you use and why? • Data centre recommendations for metadata, controlled vocabularies, and required documentation. • Whether there any encoding guidelines you should follow? Getting Started with Research Data Management

5. Research Data ManagementData metadata • What contextual details are needed? • Without additional information we do not know • Who is in this picture? • When was it taken? • Where are they? • Who took this photo? • How was this picture taken? • All this information puts this image in context. Without it, it could be photo taken in the 1800s of Mr and Mrs Straus who died on the Titanic, or a Photoshop adjusted image of a young couple dressing up at Brighton pier in 2005. • Without additional information we just don’t know. Getting Started with Research Data Management

6. Research Data ManagementData metadata • How will you capture addition information? • Many of the analysis and develop details will be in your published work – journal papers, conference proceeding, or articles for example – but if your data is separated from this publication, can others make sense of it? • If you have a results table or database, you should ensure that metadata is provided for each column and/or row • You need to record instructions for use for any software developed • Your images need to have the required properties, which can be automatically attached or can you add more information manually Getting Started with Research Data Management

7. Research Data ManagementData metadata • Which standards will you use and why? • Many data centres recommend particular metadata for the formats that they support. • This may be controlled vocabularies or required documentation. • Are you require to deposit in a particular data centre? • Are there any encoding guidelines you should follow? • Across the board, the standard set of metadata for data files is generally of the form: • Title, author, file type, size, format, version, date created, date modified, and software. • Datasets also have standard metadata that describes the data collection. Getting Started with Research Data Management