Toward Releasing the Metadata Bottleneck
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.51n1.16Abstract
Metadata creation is one of the most expensive components of digital projects. Organizational expertise (the correct structure, syntax, and use of metadata elements) and subject expertise (the appropriate semantic description of a resource’s content for users) are both needed to create a high-quality metadata record. Resource creators are frequently considered good metadata generators. Contributors or subject enthusiasts in a discipline are another population that may be good candidates for metadata creation. In this study, the quality of contributor-supplied metadata is evaluated. Metadata records submitted through a Web form are compared to the final published version of the record. Structural and semantic errors are noted throughout the records evaluated. Overall, semantic quality was good, reflecting subject expertise. The appearance and type of structural errors suggests that improvements in the interface can reduce contributors’ need to have organizational expertise to create high-quality metadata records.
References
Helen Shenton, '“Real Time, Deep Time, Life Time: Spanning Digital and Traditional Collections Life Cycles,”' Archiving 2005Final Program and Proceedings (Washington, D.C: Society for Imaging Science and Technology 2005): 206-14nJane Greenberg, '“Author-generated Dublin Core Metadata for Web Resources: A Baseline Study in an Organization,”' Journal of Digital Information 2 no. 2 (2001): (accessed Aug. 15 2005,); Charles F. Thomas and Linda S. Griffin, “Who Will Create Metadata for the Internet?”
First Monday
, no. 12 (1998), http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Articles/v02/i02/GreenbergnThomas and Griffin, “Who Will Create Metadata?”; Greenberg et al., “Final Report.”nThomas and Griffin, “Who Will Create Metadata?”; Jane Greenberg, “Metadata Generation: Processes, People and Tools,”
Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
, no. 2 (2003): 16–19nJane Greenberg, W. Davenport Robertson, '“Semantic Web Construction: An Inquiry of Authors’ Views on Collaborative Metadata Generation, ”' DC-2002: Metadata for e-Communities: Supporting Diversity and Convergence. Proceedings of the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata for e-Communities (Florence, Italy: Firenze Univ. Pr 2002): 46-nRILM, “Welcome to the RILM Web Site,” www.rilm.orgnKen Orr, '“Data Quality and Systems Theory,”' Communications of the ACM 41 no. 2 (1998): 68nJeff Rothenberg, () “Metadata to Support Data Quality and Longevity,” in
Proceedings of the First IEEE Metadata Conference, Silver Spring, MD, Apr. 16–18, 1996
, nIbid., (section 3)nKen Orr, “Data Quality.”nCinzia Cappiello, Chiara Francalanci, Barbara Pernici, Felix Naumann Ed., Monica Scannapieco Ed., '“Data Quality Assessment from the User’s Perspective,”' Proceedings of the 2004 International Workshop on Information Quality in Information Systems (New York: ACM Pr 2004): 68-73nIbid., 68nJane Barton, Sarah Currier, Jessie M. N. Hey, '“Building Quality Assurance into Metadata Creation: An Analysis based on the Learning Objects and e-Prints Communities of Practice,”' Proceedings of the 2003 Dublin Core Conference: Supporting Communities of Discourse and Practice—Metadata Research and Applications (Syracuse, N.Y: Information Inst. of Syracuse 2003): 1-10 Marieke Guy, Andy Powell, and Michael Day, “Improving the Quality of Metadata in Eprint Archives,” Ariadne 38(2004), nSarah L. Shreeves, H. A. Thompson Ed., '“Is ‘Quality’ Metadata ‘Shareable’ Metadata? The Implications of Local Metadata Practice on Federated Collections,”' Proceedings of the Twelfth National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Apr. 7–10 2005 (Chicago: ACRL 2005): 223-37 Guy, Powell, and Day, “Improving the Quality of Metadata.”nDiane Hillmann, Naomi Dushay, Jon Phipps, '“Improving Metadata Quality: Augmentation and Recombination,”' DC-2004: International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications Oct. 11–14, 2004 (Shanghai, China: Shanghai Scientific & Technological Literature Publishing House 2004): 7-nThomas R. Bruce, Diane I. Hillmann, Diane I. Hillmann Ed., Elaine L. Westbrooks Ed., '“The Continuum of Metadata Quality: Defining, Expressing, Exploiting,”' Metadata in Practice (Chicago: ALA 2004): 238-56nHillman, Dushay, and Phipps., “Improving Metadata Quality.”nShreeves et al., “Is ‘Quality’ Metadata ‘Shareable’ Metadata?”nBruce and Hillmann, “Continuum of Metadata Quality.”nWilliam E. Moen, Erin L. Stewart, Charles R. McClure, () “The Role of Content Analysis in Evaluating Metadata for the U.S. Government Information Locator Service (GILS): Results from an Exploratory Study” (1997), nMoen, Stewart, and McClure, “Role of Content Analysis;” Shreeves et al., “Is ‘Quality’ Metadata ‘Shareable’ Metadata?”nGreenberg et al., “Author-generated Dublin Core Metadata.”nIbidnBarton et al., “Building Quality Assurance into Metadata Creation.”nNaomi Dushay, Diane I. Hillmann, '“Analyzing Metadata for Effective Use and Re-use,”' Proceedings of the 2003 Dublin Core Conference: Supporting Communities of Discourse and Practice—Metadata Research and Applications (Syracuse, N.Y: Information Inst. of Syracuse 2003): 1-10nR. Scott Hanrath, “A Usability Study of a Tool for Contributor-supplied Metadata Creation: the Use of Metadata Element Definitions and Examples in Online Help” (master’s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002)nHolly M. Harmes,
Development of an Input Form to Capture Author-Generated Metadata for a Botanical Image Collection
(master’s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001); Moen et al., “Role of Content Analysis;” Greenberg et al., “Author-generated Dublin Core Metadata;” Guy et al., “Improving the Quality of Metadata”; Shreeves et al., “Is ‘Quality’ Metadata ‘Shareable’ Metadata?”nRothenberg, “Metadata to Support Data Quality.”nFor more detailed information on RILM Web-submission process, see RILM, “Mission,” www.rilm.org/about.htmlnGreenberg et al., “Author-generated Dublin Core”; Harmes, “Development of an Input Form”; Hanrath, “A Usability Study”; Moen, Stewart, and McClure, “Role of Content Analysis”; Shreeves et al., “Is ‘Quality’ Metadata ‘Shareable’?”nRILM, “How to Write a RILM Abstract,” www.rilm.org/abstinfo.html (accessed Sep. 19, 2005)nHanrath, “A Usability Study,” 18n
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after it has been accepted for publication. Sharing can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
