What is metadata and what is it for?
Metadata (often defined as data about data) is the description of all aspects of data and software components used for the collection or creation of data.
It describes the what, who, when, where, how and why about data.
Accurate metadata facilitates the discovery of data in a data repository. It ensures the usability of data by those who want to reuse that data.
New to metadata?
See one-page synopsis from DateONE
Dublin Core metadata standards
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is one of the most common metadata schemes.
It developed a vocabulary of 15 core qualifiers that describe a wide range of data:
1. Title; 2. Date; 3. Type; 4. Rights; 5. Creator; 6. Subject; 7. Source; 8. Description; 9. Publisher; 10. Contributor; 11. Format; 12. Identifier; 13. Language; 14. Relation; 15. Coverage.
All of these properties are optional
and can be used in any order.
Discipline-specific metadata standards
- Metadata standards by disciplineFrom the Digital Curation Center. Links to disciplinary metadata standards.
- Astronomy Visualization Metadata (AVM)Metadata standards developed for data-derived astronomical images.
- Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA)Metadata standards developed for describing works of art, architecture, and other relevant works.
- Darwin CoreMetadata standards developed for biodiversity data.
- Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)Metadata standards developed for the social, behavioral, economic, and health sciences.
- Ecological Metadata Language (EML)Metadata standards developed for ecological studies.
- Federal Geographic Data Committee (FDGC)Metadata standards developed for documenting digital geospatial data.
- MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC)Metadata standards developed for the representation of bibliographic data in machine-readable form.