What is Metadata (with examples)
I find myself a visual learner and seeing what Metadata is through this article made it a lot easier to understand. When i was reading through this week's objectives, i was concerned with the concept because i had never heard of it.
Relational databases (most common type of database) store and provide access not only data but also metadata in a structure called data dictionary or system catalog. It holds information about: tables, columns, data types, constraints table relationships, and many more
Relational databases, the most prevalent type, efficiently manage and offer access to both data and metadata through a structured data dictionary or system catalog. This repository holds crucial information, including tables, columns, data types, constraints, table relationships, and more, ensuring the comprehensive organization and accessibility of database elements.
Each book has a number of standard metadata on the covers and inside. This includes: a title, author name, publisher and copyright details, description on a back, table of contents, index, page numbers.
These standard metadata elements, encompassing title, author, publisher details, copyright information, back cover description, table of contents, index, and page numbers, offer comprehensive insights into each book's content and context.
Those are some typical metadata elements: Title and description, Tags and categories, Who created and when, Who last modified and when, Who can access or update.
These metadata elements provide essential information, ensuring effective organization, accessibility, and attribution within a digital collection.
creation date and time,
Sometimes you hear of this in photo sharing apps where people don’t realize that photos they upload can have metadata in the structure. Metadata can be useful when searching through the vast internet for something specific, but some metadata including things such as date and time could possibly put someone’s safety at risk. Being able to see location in a person’s picture and the addition of knowing the date and time of creation could in some cases lead to things such as stalking. While this won’t always happen, it is crazy to me that something so simple that most people don’t know about can be so important!
Relational databases (most common type of database) store and provide access not only data but also metadata in a structure
I wasn't aware of how strongly relational databases ties into metadata. I guess this makes sense since there needs to be some source of data which can provide a clear structure of the database by defining tables, columns, data types, and relationships between tables. As a potential use case, metatdata, (in the context of relational databases for instance) defines rules and constraints, such as primary keys, foreign keys, unique constraints, and check constraints. These rules ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data by preventing incorrect, duplicate, or inconsistent data from being entered into the database.
whether those be the storified live tweet archives of the session
I wonder what the standard is going to be going forward in terms of the responsibility that social media companies have to preserve and sort the data uploaded to their platforms. So much of our interactions happen on social media that it seems like it could be reasonable to support some sort of government subsidization of the costs of storing posts and media for history's sake.
The archive is our record of the past, not the actual thing itself.
I think this is an important reminder. When 'evidence' is taken out of context, it can really distort what we see as 'reality.' I believe metadata would be an important tool for contextualizing information to improve the accuracy of our understanding.
For historians, historiography signals a shift from “primary” sources—often archival ones—to “secondary” sources—or the historical arguments, interpretations, and interventions that use the archives to mount claims about the past. Of course, this distinctio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXMQR-YwYRI&ab_channel=RecordingArchaeology here is a video that delves into metadata in the context of data preservation and reuse. sort of ties in nicely with the concepts being portrayed in the readings on how metadata can impact so many different domain of data storage and historical knowledge.
How we develop digital archives so that they are not a one-size-fits-all platform, how we fight the urge for standardization while still harnessing the power of interconnectivity in the digital arena—this becomes one of the great challenges for archivists and historians alike.
This video I found highlights the long term preservation of knowledge in a digital format. This outlines the shift in how archivists organized information in the shift from paper to digital. While the video is somewhat boring, it paints a realistic picture of how information if sorted and stored in a digital format using different file systems, portraying a "one-size-fits-all" platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLd6WFBrwbg&ab_channel=CouncilofStateArchivists
In the new online spaces where the digital archive meets digital history, the relationship between these two professions takes on new and unexpected possibilities—and tensions. We will need to think carefully about how the digital returns us to buried institutional wounds that date back in the United States to the 1930s, when archivists and historians parted ways in their professional affiliations.
I find it somewhat strange why tensions were high between archivists and historians. I mean both parties use metadata to their advantage in the online space? why would tensions rise if they benefit from the same technological advantages?
And then there is this: as we well know the digital tends to be far less static than prior mediums of preservation.
This line represents the importance of proper archiving and metadata information. Being able to track a document's original source and state (unedited) gives us insight into what the page / document was trying to present at the time it was created. Web documents edit easily, so if archiving was not a common practice it would be quite easy to change content down the road, completely negating the point of historical evidence.
We also need to think carefully about voices left out of these conversations and the kinds of questions and themes that drive them as well as the well-known, established voices. We need to confront the whole assemblage of the history of history, which is grounded not only in readings of primary sources in archives, but also readings of secondary sources previously understood as, in some sense, fundamentally outside the archives.
History can often be archived and recorded in a prejudiced perspective, a favorable one. By considering other sources of information to be as valid as its origin sources, it has the opportunity to re-inform individuals on what occurred.
It would also mean that we might reconceptualize the preservation of historiography itself, that in the digital medium, we might link so-called primary and secondary sources in new, more fluid and dynamic ways that speak to the richness of their interconnections.
The best understanding of any historical event might be provided to people by combining primary and secondary sources and making the information widely accessible through a digital media. Utilizing metadata to most precisely identify the author and origin of a source.
the very placement of certain materials in archives and the exclusion of other materials speaks to the power of the archive itself to shape what counts as history and what is delegitimized.
I think bias's and leaving out certain details or information is a very common thing in history, as much of it is written on the premise of 'us vs them'. It's important to note and be critical of when reading primary sources.
These two approaches—archivist’s and historian’s—can go together, of course, but they only do so through slightly different imaginings of the stuff itself in the archives and the uses to which it should be put.
The difference between these two is very interesting but the fact that they can come and work together on certain ideas for some reason was very surprising to me. I would have thought that their ideas would come together at the end independently but they will work together for them from the get go is what I thought was cool.
Archives
Growing up I thought that archiving and the trash were one in the same. This was mainly due to when I would go to delete my emails on the computer the exact same action to delete the email would also result in archiving these email. Eventually I had learnt what the word "archive" meant but still was oblivious as I was thinking it was "storing" the emails in the trash bin. Once I had got to grade 8 I finally understood I had kept well over 6000 emails in archives and deleted them. After reading this article I don't see why I was so stupid growing up but I do know I will not be making that mistake ever again!
A long-running digital dream, dating back to the 1940s has been to assemble the information of the world into one linked archive of sorts
This partially reminds me of what Wikipedia has become and what it stands for. We as a society have one singular resource to check both macro and micro levels of knowledge and fact upon. An argument can be made for the level of its authenticity and correctness, but overall, it is a resource unlike any that humans have ever had beyond massive libraries.
virtual toes in digital waters and sometimes find ourselves with the distinct feeling that we might soon be drowning.
I can relate to this statement in that it sometimes feels like there is almost too much content on the internet. So much so in fact that it is drawing us as a society to spend ever-growing amounts of time online, as opposed to living in reality.
Every blog post has standard metadata fields that are usually at before first paragraph. This includes:
I never knew until now that the title was also considered to be metadata. But it makes alot more sense on why after having read this article as well as some more on my own time throughout this week. Learning about tags and the simple yet somehow complex formats that can occur was mind boggling.
type,
It is very interesting knowing that all these different files types such as doc, jpg, png, docx, etc... are all considered metadata. Would this also mean that there are non-metadata file types?
Every word processing software collects some standard metadata and enables you to add your own fields for each document. Typical fields are: title, subject, author, company, status, creation date and time, last modification date and time, number of pages.
Interesting to think that I have been interacting with metadata for decades without realizing it! It begs the question - What other things have do I use/interact with on a regular basis without realizing it?
Those were my examples. I hope by now you have pretty good understanding of what metadata is.
When I first heard of Metadata, I assumed it was some complex form of data that would be extracted from human interaction with the internet. Glad to see that it actually is a rather straight-forward and easy to understand term!
as not merely descriptive, but also already on its way to interpretation, then what is historical scholarship but a further extension of this elaboration of the evidentiary record? T
From my understanding, metadata in archival terms includes not only representations of information, but also descriptions and traces of the many settings of records and other archive resources.With so much data produced in the web how can one keep up and organize all that data?
For archivists, the goal is to preserve, describe, and provide access to archives for a broad range of users, from professional historians to private archive owners to the public at large. For historians, the goal is, most of the time, to “mine” archival material for interpretation.
This distinction is not one that I had considered. It is interesting how many different ways archives can be used. I like the example they used with archivists and and historians showing how archives are interpreted and used in a variety of ways based on the field of research.
So too does Kate’s insistence that we use the word “archives” with care and precision—and even perhaps not use it at all when its digital incarnation diverges fundamentally from archival purposes of preservation.
Archiving is an interesting term, in this sense I think the paper is saying that archiving is when something is being stored permanently for a historical purpose. It does not encompass, for example, storing data on a memory drive that will one day be wiped or overwritten. It is important in this topic to use the term appropriately.
Rather than treat evidence as transparent access to the truth, we might consider the how’s and why’s of the origins of our “evidence” from their starting point right through to the generations of archival creators, maintainers, and interpreters.
I agree with this statement, I think it is always important to consider the context behind evidence. It is necessary to know the full picture before making assumptions.
date and time, filename, camera settings, geolocation.
When I look through my photos and videos I realized that my iphone actually had all the metadata stored about my photo. I was able to find out when I took it, the location I took it, and more information. It is insane to look back at my photos seeing where I've been and what I discovered in those p
Metadata is simply data about data. It means it is a description and context of the data. It helps to organize, find and understand data.
This reminds me utilizing card catalogues from libraries. Each card featured basic information about the book, including where it might be found in the library and its primary subjects. The cards were grouped by author, title, and subject to make it easier for library patrons to discover materials.
Spreadsheets contain a few metadata fields: tab names, table names, column names, user comments.
When it comes to something like spreadsheets, this shows you can't have data without metadata or at least are unable to have meaningful, organized data.
data dictionary or system catalog.
When I thought of metadata when it comes to digital formats or technology this is what I thought it would be. I had no idea that is was something as simple as data about data that in easiest definition can be a description about something. I am curious to know what the average person would think metadata is or if they have any understanding of it.
file name, type, size, creation date and time, last modification date and time.
I knew that each file held this information but I did not know that these are actually examples of metadata.
sending and receiving server names and IPs, format (plain text of HTLM), anti-spam software details.
Is there a way for us to see the last three metadata examples in an email? It is interesting to understand how many fields I did not know about because they're not actively shown on every email.