Metadata Element Set

Starr Hoffman

Fall 2006

Element Name: Title

Label: Title

Definition: A name given to the object.

Comment: Few or no formal titles can be used, due to the nature of this archive, which is largely composed of unpublished objects and/or artifacts of a non-title-able nature. Typically, Title will be a name by which the object is formally known. In cases of untitled photographs or other objects, short descriptions of the object (placed in brackets) will suffice in place of a title.

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: yes

Element Name: Subject

Label: Subject and Keywords

Mapped to: DC Subject

Definition: A topic of the content of the object.

Comment: Typically, Subject will be expressed as keywords, key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic of the resource. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.

Controlled Vocabulary: UK Archival Thesaurus (UKAT)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: yes

Element Name: Subject.Participant

Label: Subject.Participant

Mapped to: none

Definition: Person(s) depicted in the content of the object.

Comment: Examples of Participant include persons that are the subject of a photograph.

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Subject.FamilyBranch

Label: Subject.FamilyBranch

Mapped to: none

Definition: Branches of the family (by last name) represented by the object.

Comment: The name authority file contains surnames from my husband and his paternal grandparents and great-grandparents, and from my own maternal and paternal grandparents and great-grandparents. General practice is to classify married women by their maiden name only when the object refers to their pre-married life, and similarly by their married name if the object refers to their life post-marriage. In cases of wedding-related objects and objects where the date is undetermined, use both names.

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: yes

Element Name: Description

Label: Description

Mapped to: DC Description-Abstract

Definition: An account of the content of the object.

Comment: Examples of Description include, but is not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content. For untitled photographs, for instance, this may entail a more detailed account of the persons, the location, and/or the event which the photograph depicts.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Transcription

Label: Transcription

Mapped to: none

Definition: Transcribed text from the object.

Comment: Examples of Description include, but are not limited to, labels/signs in a photograph, handwritten notes, letters, typed or born-digital manuscripts, OCR text.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Anecdote

Label: Anecdote

Mapped to: DC Description

Definition: A story related to the object that is about and/or told by a family member.

Comment: These stories may be obtained from formal written accounts, informal correspondence, or by being relayed orally to the archivist. If the metadata creator was involved in the incident or has personal knowledge of a story relating to the object, the metadata creator may compose the anecdote by hand.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Anecdote.Source

Label: Anecdote.Source

Mapped to: none

Definition: Person and/or document that related the anecdote.

Comment: Examples of Anecdote.Source include a person, book, memoir, or website.

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Creator

Label: Creator

Definition: An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the object.

Comment: Examples of Creator include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name of a Creator should be used to indicate the entity.

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Creator.Role

Label: Creator.Role

Mapped to: none

Definition: Role of the Creator.

Comment: Examples of Creator.Role include photographer, author, artist.

Controlled Vocabulary: Roles (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Contributors

Label: Contributors

Definition: An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the object.

Comment: Examples of Contributor include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name of a Contributor should be used to indicate the entity.

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Contributors.Role

Label: Contributors.Role

Mapped to: none

Definition: Role of the Ccontributors.

Comment: Examples of Contributors.Role include photographer, author, artist.

Controlled Vocabulary: Roles (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Owner.Current

Label: Owner.Current

Mapped to: DC Publisher

Definition: An entity that currently owns the object (may be the original owner).

Comment: Examples of Owner.Current include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name an Owner should be used to indicate the entity. This element is used to identify ownership when the Owner is not also the Creator of the object (for example, a sewing machine that was owned but not manufactured by a family member). (Note: Publisher is unlikely to be relevant to a geneological archive of unpublished objects.)

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Owner.Past

Label: Owner.Past

Mapped to: none

Definition: An entity that has owned the object in the past (and is not the original or current owner).

Comment: Examples of Owner.Past include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name an Owner should be used to indicate the entity. This element is used to identify ownership when the Owner is not also the Creator of the object (for example, a sewing machine that was owned but not manufactured by a family member).

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Owner.Original

Label: Owner.Original

Mapped to: none

Definition: An entity that originally owned the object (may be the current owner).

Comment: Examples of Owner / Provenance include a person, an organization, or a service. Typically, the name an Owner should be used to indicate the entity. This element is used to identify ownership when the Owner is not also the Creator of the object (for example, a sewing machine that was owned but not manufactured by a family member).

Controlled Vocabulary: Name Authority File (proprietary)

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Coverage.Spatial

Label: Coverage-Spatial

Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource.

Comment: Typically, Coverage will include spatial location (a place name or geographic coordinates). Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the Thesaurus of Geographic Names TGN) and to use, where appropriate, named places in preference to numeric identifiers such as sets of coordinates.

Controlled Vocabulary: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Coverage.Temporal

Label: Coverage-Temporal

Definition: The extent or scope of the content of the resource.

Comment: Typically, Coverage will include temporal period (a period label, date, or date range). Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the Thesaurus of Geographic Names TGN) and to use, where appropriate, named time periods in preference to numeric identifiers such as date ranges.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Date.Created

Label: Date-Created

Definition: A date of an event in the lifecycle of the object.

Comment: Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or availability of the resource. Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is defined in a profile of ISO 8601 W3CDTF and includes (among others) dates of the form YYYY-MM-DD.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Note: Original Qualifiers: creation date, digital creation date, archived date / metadata, creation date (auto)

Element Name: Era

Label: Era

Mapped to: none

Definition: The era in which the object was created.

Comment: This field is designed to encompass a broader sense of time than the specificity of the "date" element. This is particularly useful, as many of these family objects do not have precise dates (or even years) associated with them.

Controlled Vocabulary: proprietary vocabulary for Era

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Generation.Participant

Label: Generation.Participant

Mapped to: none

Definition: The generation to which the Subject.Participant belongs.

Comment: This field is used to distinguish between the creation of the object and the age or generation of that object's participant. For instance, a photograph which E.M. "Brock" Brockmeier took in 1953 of Bill Brockmeier would be classified as:

Controlled Vocabulary: proprietary vocabulary for Generation

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Generation.Creator

Label: Generation.Creator

Mapped to: none

Definition: The generation to which the object's creator belongs.

Comment: This field is used to distinguish between the creation of the object and the age or generation of that object's creator. For instance, a photograph which E.M. "Brock" Brockmeier took in 1953 of Bill Brockmeier would be classified as:

Controlled Vocabulary: proprietary vocabulary for Generation

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Generation.Other

Label: Generation.Other

Mapped to: none

Definition: The generation to which the object's owner, contributor, or other associated person belongs.

Comment: This field is used to record the generation of any other person associated with the object that has not been recorded in either of the previous two Generation elements.

Controlled Vocabulary: proprietary vocabulary for Generation

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Identifier

Label: Resource Identifier

Definition: An unambiguous reference to the object within a given context.

Comment: Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system. Formal identification systems include but are not limited to the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) (including the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: yes

Element Name: Artifact.Dimensions

Label: Artifact.Dimensions

Definition: The physical size of the object.

Comment: Input dimensions and other relevant physical description for physical artifacts only; photographs are not included, as the metadata is describing the image itself, not the physical photograph.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Image.DPI

Label: Image.DPI

Definition: The resolution at which the object was saved.

Comment: Input resolution in dpi.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Image.Dimensions

Label: Image.Dimensions

Definition: The dimensions of the digital incarnation of the object (in pixels).

Comment: Input digital dimensions.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Image.Size

Label: Image.Size

Definition: The size of the digital incarnation of the object (in kb).

Comment: Input file size.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Image.DigitalOrigin

Label: Image.DigitalOrigin

Definition: The origin of the digital image depicted (analog or digital).

Comment: Describe if the image was scanned, born digital, digitally edited, or undetermined.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: yes

Element Name: Type

Label: Type

Definition: The nature or genre of the content of the resource.

Comment: Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the DCMI Type Vocabulary, DCT1). Describes the physical and/or digital manifestation of the resource.

Controlled Vocabulary: DCMI Type, UNTL

Indexed: no

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Format

Label: Format

Definition: The digital manifestation of the resource.

Comment: Typically, Format may include the media-type or dimensions of the resource. Format may be used to identify the software, hardware, or other equipment needed to display or operate the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to select a value from a controlled vocabulary (for example, the list of Internet Media Types, MIME defining computer media formats).

Controlled Vocabulary: MIME Types, UNTL

Indexed: yes (???)

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Media

Label: Media

Mapped to: none

Definition: The materials used in the creation of the physical manifestation of the object.

Comment: This element will not be used for every object in the collection. Born-digital objects are marked as "digital images" and digital photographs are distinguished as color or black and white. If precise materials cannot be determined, a less specific term or "unknown" will be used.

Controlled Vocabulary: Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online

Indexed: no

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Rights

Label: Rights Management

Definition: Information about rights held in and over the resource.

Comment: As the majority of these objects are unpublished, this element will contain information about permissions granted to use this resource online. Typically, this permission is gained from the Creator, the Owner, or both. (Typically, Rights will contain a rights management statement for the resource, or reference a service providing such information. Rights information often encompasses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Copyright, and various Property Rights.) If the Rights element is absent, no assumptions may be made about any rights held in or over the resource.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: no

Required: no

Element Name: Language

Label: Language

Definition: A language of the intellectual content of the resource.

Comment: Language is only entered if the object contains text in some form (usually indicated in the Transcription element). Recommended best practice is to use RFC 3066 which, in conjunction with ISO639), defines two- and three-letter primary language tags with optional subtags. Examples include "en" or "eng" for English, "akk" for Akkadian", and "en-GB" for English used in the United Kingdom.

Indexed: no

Repeatable: yes

Required: no

Element Name: Relation

Label: Relation

Definition: A reference to a related object.

Comment: Enter the title of the related object into this field. Relation is to be used for objects that are not different images of the same object (which are to be created as compound objects), but which still bear a relation to each other (for instance, a quilt and the sewing machine on which it was sewn).

Indexed: yes

Repeatable: yes

Required: no