From Ocean Teacher Library
Contents |
Background
The creation and maintenance of metadata is an integral part of ocean data management. Creating and maintaining metadata consistent with defined standards is essential to ensure interoperability with other metadata systems. This is a basic requirement for data exchange and data publishing.
Metadata creation is an incremental process. A metadata record may begin its life cycle as a "place holder" consisting of core data and then can be enriched as it moves through the various stages of its use within an institution. [1].
Practical Steps
There are a number of steps in creating good metadata:
- Organise all relevant information
- Write the metadata by following an approved standard and familiarize yourself with the standard.
- Follow examples of similar metadata to see how others have written metadata and keep description simple, with clear, familiar words.
- Review all metadata for accuracy and completeness before publishing
Metadata Title: The title is one of the most important elements when creating metadata. Most readers will look first at the title to make a quick judgement as to the suitability of the dataset. The title should include as many details as possible so that reader knows what is being described. Use an informative title that includes the topic and specific information about the type of data collected and geographical area.
Keywords: The effective use of keywords or vocabularies is critical. Some users will use the keyword to locate relevant datasets. Make sure the keywords are clear and unambiguous. For example, the word temperature - does it refer to ocean temperature or air temperature? A well-used vocabulary to describe earth science datasets is the GCMD science keywords. The geographic location of a dataset can be selected from a list of sea area names. The use of keywords ensures that standard names and consistent spelling are always used. Always choose unambiguous, descriptive keywords.
Review: Check the metadata for clarity and omissions. Assess the usefulness of the metadata from the data discovery aspect. Ensure there is a clear statement on the conditions and terms of use for data.
Tools to Create Metadata
Tools can help create, validate and distribute metadata. These metadata tools are generally developed to support specific metadata schemas or element sets (such as ISO 19115, DIF, CSR). They can be stand-alone applications, internet applications, or integrated into geospatial applications (such as ArcGIS).
Metadata entry tools cannot, however, check the accuracy of the metadata. Consequently, some level of human review is required. But human review should be simpler in those cases where the metadata is known to have the correct syntactical structure.
References
Additional Resources
- IMBER Data Management Cookbook. Includes sections on reporting and metadata requirements.
Subsections of this Article
| Pagename | Short title | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metadata Tools | Metadata Tools | Tools to create metadata | There are a variety of tools to assist with such tasks as creating metadata and editing metadata. |
Information about this article
Short title: Creating Metadata
Description: The creation and maintenance of metadata is an integral part of ocean data management. Creating and maintaining metadata consistent with defined standards is essential to ensure interoperability with other metadata systems.
Expertise level: beginner
Author: Greg Reed
Approval status: approved
Approved by: Murray.Brown
Last change: 2009-7-15
Subsection of: Metadata
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