Metadata Value Space

Almost all metadata standards require or recommend the use of controlled

vocabularies for some elements.

Revisiting Dublin Core

Content Intellectual Property

Instantiation

Coverage Contributor Date

Description Creator Format

Type Publisher Identifier

Relation Rights Language

Source

Subject

Title

Content data for some elements may be selected from a controlled vocabulary …

Metadata Value Space and Controlled Vocabularies

Content data for some elements may be selected from a controlled vocabulary:

1) Standardized vocabularies2) Name authority control3) Controlled terms

-- from Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, Version 1.1

Recommendations from best practices-- Value encoding schemes

1) Standardized vocabularies

Resource Type (DC)

http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-type-vocabulary/

Language (ISO)http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/iso639a.html

Countries (ISO) http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/country3166.html Geographical names (Getty) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/

b) Name authority control

The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/

LC Name Authority file VIAF (a hub of many)

http://viaf.org/ Local name authority files

(Create your own)

c) Controlled vocabularies

Controlled subject terms LC Subject Headings

http://authorities.loc.gov/ (LCSH available as Linked Data):

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/ Art and Architecture Thesaurus

http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/

(and many thesauri and subject headings lists) http://www.metadataetc.org/book-website/readings/appendixbencodschemes.htm

Create your controlled lists

Compile a list of suggested terms based on dictionaries

E.g., for object titles (Because objects usually do not bear title information.)

Example: fashion items

Extract from available controlled vocabularies e.g., a set of terms for ‘postcard materials’ from AAT

“Folk” controlled lists e.g., GEM Controlled Vocabularies for

Audience | Format | Grade | Language | Pedagogy | Relation | Resource Type | Subject

How to construct controlled lists

The defining characteristics of a list is that: the terms

1. are all members of the same set or class of items (e.g., content type, language);

2. are not overlapping in meaning; and 3. are equal in terms of specificity or granularity

(e.g., a geographic areas list does not mix continents with country or state names).

Example from LOM(Learning Object metadata)

5.2 Learning Resource Type

Explanation: Specific kind of learning object. The most dominant kind shall be first.

NOTE: --The vocabulary terms are defined as in the OED:1989 and as used by educational communities of practice.

Value Space: ordered exercisesimulationquestionnairediagramfiguregraphindexslidetablenarrative textexamexperimentproblem statementself assessmentlecture

Using Controlled Vocabularies in Metadata Records

Source: The J. Paul Getty Museum's implementation of The Museum System software by Gallery Systems

Build-in a pick list for creating metadata records

pick list

link to lists

controlled values

2

1

3

<meta name="Security" content="public" /><meta name="Source" content="Franklin/IPC" /><meta name="DC.Rights" content="Copyright (c) 2006 by IBM Corporation" /><meta name="Robots" content="index,follow" /><meta name="DC.Language" scheme="rfc1766" content="en-US" /><meta name="DC.Date" scheme="iso8601" content="2006-05-22" /><meta name="IBM.Country" content="US" /><meta name="Description" content="The IBM corporate home page, entry point to information about IBM products and services" /><meta name="Abstract" content="The IBM corporate home page, entry point to information about IBM products and services" /><meta name="Owner" content="Laurie Leitner/White Plains/Contr/IBM" /><meta name="Keywords" content="ibm, international business machines, ibm.com, On Demand Business, on demand business, ON, unix, linux, technical support, homepage, home page, solutions, services, find it fast" /><meta name="DC.Publisher" content="IBM Corporation" /><meta name="IBM.Effective" scheme="W3CDTF" content="2006-02-24" /><meta name="DC.Type" scheme="IBM_ContentClassTaxonomy" content="HP" /><meta name="IBM.Industry" scheme="IBM_IndustryTaxonomy" content="ZZ" /><meta name="DC.Subject" scheme="IBM_SubjectTaxonomy" content="ZZ999" />

IBM Website, embedded metadata

In-Class Exercise

Make decisions about value spaces for your metadata project. Point to value standards Create at least one pre-defined term list