What is Metadata?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Metadata, Anyway?
"Metadata" is the information, or data, that accompanies a piece of digitized content, such as a video or audio clip, graphic, or script. Examples of metadata include description, subject heading, file format, author/producer, rights holder, etc. When these fields of information use standardized vocabularies and have defined relationships, this constitutes a metadata model or dictionary, and the content can be more easily indexed, catalogued, searched, and retrieved.
Why Does Public Broadcasting Need to Use the Same Standard?
Within public broadcasting, the application of a shared metadata dictionary will facilitate the exchange and delivery of content and data (including both program elements and completed programs) throughout multiplatform production teams, the system of interconnected licensees and out to public broadcast and Internet constituents. It is a critical first step as PBS, NPR, PRI, individual stations, and others begin to acquire and use asset management systems to organize their content.
Who Is Involved in the Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project?
WGBH is administering the project. A 30-person Metadata Working Group, representing local and national television and radio organizations as well as numerous constituencies and disciplines, has been formed. The project also includes advisors from the University of Washington Information School, the Department of Defense's Academic CoLab (creators of the SCORM standard for learning objects) and Rutgers University/The Association of Moving Image Archivists.
What Are the Goals of the Project?
- Evaluate the user needs and applications of a shared metadata dictionary;
- Review existing public broadcasting and other metadata work;
- Accept and/or create the dictionary's design (core layer and modules);
- Test various aspects of the dictionary;
- Make shared recommendations to the public broadcasting system regarding metadata specifications.
What Is the Actual Output of the Project?
The Dictionary itself will be a recommended set of "fields" that can be applied in any computer or print system. The first layer consists of core data elements (such as "date" or "title"), the next a more detailed set of "qualifiers" for each (such as "production completion" and "original broadcast"). Finally, there will be a recommended way of expressing these fields of information, called an "authority file" (such as the World Wide Web Consortium date standard of "2002-08-20").
The Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary will be published online and will be available for use without cost by public broadcasters and their partners. The most important thing to remember is that it must be applied correctly and consistently.
Haven't Other People Already Done This?
The project will take into consideration, if not directly build upon, similar work performed by likely partners (such as libraries, educators, and other media companies) and will bear in mind those constituents.
What's the Timeline?
Theoretically, this is a never-ending process: the "data integrity" of the Dictionary and its versions will have to be maintained and protected throughout the foreseeable future. Within the shorter scope of this project, the Working Group made a preliminary recommendation in the fall of 2002, and has been monitoring several test implementations over the winter. During the spring of 2003, the group will publish a more robust set of recommendations, building on the first.
How Does This Affect the ContentDepot?
NPR Distribution is participating in the CPB-funded Public Broadcasting Metadata Model Project. The guidelines established by this group will create the interoperability standards required for the ContentDepot's integrated asset management network.
FAQ courtesy of the CPB Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project. More information is available at www.utah.edu/cpbmetadata/index.html.