Week 4 Readings Information Organization by Database, Metadata
Database http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
The Relational model is the most commonly used model for databases.
-relationships between data exist, and therefore can be retrieved through mathematical means.
Post-relational database models are more general in their data return.
Object database models attempt to bring databases and applications closer together.
Indexing helps speed up database searching, but must be updated religiously in order to ensure that all the relevant data is retrieved during a search.
This wiki is very helpful in understanding the basic architecture of a database. Databases are essential in the functionality of almost all organizations. The ability to understand the different types of databases is essential in information retrieval. Being able to recognize what type of database an organization uses gives information scientists the ability to successfully retrieve information from that database.
Introduction to Metadata Anne J. Gilliland
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/setting.html
The digital age has shifted a common practice in information science. Now, information professionals are not the sole individuals responsible for the organization of data (metadata), as anyone on the internet can catalogue, classify or index digital material.
Metadata Definition: "Perhaps a more useful, "big picture" way of thinking about metadata is as the sum total of what one can say about any information object at any level of aggregation.1 In this context, an information object is anything that can be addressed and manipulated as a discrete entity by a human being or an information system."
Information Objects have Three Features:
Content: What does the object contain or what is it about? Intrinsic
Context: the who, what, why, where and how aspects associated with the object.
Extrinsic
Structure: the formal set of associations within or among individual information
objects. Intrinsic or Extrinsic
Table 1. is very helpful. The definition and examples of structure, value, content, and format helped me better understand the components of metadata.
"Library metadata development has been first and foremost about providing intellectual and physical access to collection materials."
-Indexes, abstracts, bibliographic records (shared cooperatively)
Metadata typically indexed by context, but trying to also organize information by provenance or subject has proved difficult.
Gilliland's list of how metadata helps establish information within a digital context is important since almost anyone can now create metadata. This list suggests that by organizing information, especially digital information, it is important for not only information professionals, but all information users to recognize valuable information due to its organization.
There is cooperation between libraries, museums, archives, and other communities
in regards to metadata and cataloging, but the digital age makes anyone a cataloguer.
Are html links, and user created databases useful metadata? How do we incorporate those aspects into a print world?
Different types of metadata:
-administrative
-descriptive
-preservation
-technical
-use
Table 3. "Attributes and Characteristics of Metadata" explains the properties of metadata collection and creation. <---------- Good source.
Functions of metadata:
-creations, reuse, recontextualization of information objects
-organization and description
-validation
-searching and retrieval
-utilization and preservation
-disposition
Metadata is very important for information systems to be able to gain access to their information, retain the information, expand its use, diversity in search options, track legal rights (licensing, copyright…), preservation of information…etc.
This document is fascinating as it systematically presents a clear explanation of exactly what metadata is, how it is created, why there are so many different schools of thought concerning metadata and its creation, how it functions, and how to use metadata. It makes the case for information professionals and individuals alike to learn how information is organized in order to better understand how to search for it, or even organize it yourself.
An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model Eric J. Miller
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative DCMI is an initiative to standardize and create a consensus across disciplines as to the description of electronic resources.
Functional requirements (to create a model for the identification of both implicit and explicit requirements):
-Internationalization
-Modularization/Extensibility
-Element Identity
-Semantic Refinement
-Identification of encoding schemes
-Specification of controlled vocabularies
-Identification of structured compound values
The Model:
-A resource can be anything
-Properties are specific to resources
-Class are specific to resources
-Literal are terminal resources
-The reader and writer must understand terms to mean the same thing. Congruity within identification.
-There is no 'one' way to classify or term a resource
-Classification schemes help identify a resource
-There are values inherent to a resource (authority records, authorized versions of names, corporate entities, people etc.) These values must be classifiable across an international spectrum.
Essentially, what I took from this article is that the DCMI is trying to standardize how metadata is organized in the electronic/digital world in order to ease the difficulty of information retrieval across borders. The model they provide is the beginning of a solution.
I think its important that you highlighted in your notes from the second reading that information professionals aren't solely responsible for metadata information. With so many consumers also becoming creators, we are seeing new ways in which people create, describe and tag all the information being created.
ReplyDelete