A Beginner's Guide to Metadata

Hello! 👋

Welcome to a talk by the Data Discoverability team at Astun Technology

What is metadata?

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Why is it important?

So chatGPT knows that metadata is important for making data management more effective, secure, and efficient

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But it also...

Reduces risk and cost

Adds value, and encourages innovation

and helps others understand the data

👉 Serious example

The Internet

However...

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Some jargon

The Internet

eXtensible Markup Language

The most common format in which metadata is provided

Both a language and a file format

Takes the form of elements, surrounded by start and end tags that describe what the element is and what type of thing it is

👉 XML metadata

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XML rules and validity

Rules on what should be in a metadata record are defined by schemas

A record can re-use elements from many different schemas using namespaces

A valid record must be both well-formed and schema-valid

👉 That record again

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Schemas, Standards and Profiles

Schema: specifies the structure of the metadata, the elements, and the controlled vocabularies used

Standard: a schema that has been developed and maintained by a standards organisation

Profile: an extension to a standard, or an implementation of it in software, or both

ISO Standards and Gemini

The core standard for Geospatial metadata is ISO19115

ISO19139 is the implementation of ISO19115 in XML

GEMINI is an extension to ISO19139 for UK geospatial metadata

👉 Gemini Online

What about INSPIRE?

Yes, you still have to do it

#1 Identify key environmental datasets

#2 Provide metadata in Gemini format

#3 Make data available via web services

#4 Publish to data.gov.uk

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The intersection with Linked Data

URIs

Dublin Core/DCAT

RDF/Triples

Ontologies

If metadata is data about data, linked data is data structured so that it can be easily connected and integrated with other data. Linked data uses standard web technologies such as URIs (universal resource locators, of which a web address or URL is a subset) to identify and make data available in a machine-readable way. Other terms that you might come across at the intersection of metadata and linked data are: Dublin Core is a basic, domain-agnostic standard for describing any sort of resource. DCAT and (Geo)DCAT-AP are profiles of Dublin Core, widely used in catalogues such as CKAN. RDF is a data model that comprises "triple statements", comprising a subject, a predicate or relationship, and an object, and are widely used for linked data and semantic web implementations. The Dublin in Dublin Core relates to Dublin, Ohio rather than Dublin, Ireland, and that is a triple statement where the subject is "Dublin Core", the predicate is "relates to", and the object is "Dublin Ohio". An ontology is a fancy word for a set of categories or concepts within a domain. A good metadata catalogue will allow you to publish and ingest metadata in both ISO19139 and DCAT formats.

🤔 Are metadata catalogs just for spatial data?

No! Other uses include...

Non-spatial datasets...

Detailed workflow recording...

GDPR records...

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What is Q-FAIR all about?

Quality

- is just a hyphen

Findable

Accessible

Interoperable

Reusable

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Where to start?

Get as much buy-in as possible

Tools such as Data Maturity Models help assess your current level

Frame it in terms of getting the best value out of your assets

But take it one step at a time!

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🚸 Novice Level

Keep it simple

Stick to a structure

Metadata in a spreadsheet is better than no metadata

Choose a few key datasets to start with

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💪 Next Level

Don't reinvent the wheel

Adopt open solutions that aid sharing and discovery

Always be Q-FAIR

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good

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Whatever stage you're at...

We can help! 👉 astuntechnology.com

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Any questions?

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🙏 Thanks for attending!

We'll be sharing the recording with you all shortly

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