Lifecycle Metadata for
Digital Objects
October 23, 2006
Creation Metadata
What happens at file creation?
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Consciously
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You place into the file everything you think it needs in order
to be useful
You save it with a file name that will help you find it again
(you hope)
Unconsciously (or unwillingly)
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Metadata is added using environmental information
Metadata is added using information elicited from you
Metadata from creating app
(Word 2000 Statistics)
Metadata from creating app
(Word 2000 General)
Metadata controlled by the
user (Word 2000 Summary)
Metadata controlled by the
user (Word 2000 Custom)
Viewing Word Metadata in XML
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Add relevant metadata to your Word document as
outlined above
If you have Word 2003, save the document as XML
Open the document in an XML editor
If not, save the document as HTML
View the document in Notepad or another ASCII
editor or view source from the HTML document
displayed in a browser
The future of XML in Word?
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Word has already provided XML markup of its
Document Properties and Custom Document
Properties metadata for several versions
back
In Word 2003 a native (and patented) XML
schema was used
In Office 2007 XML will be systematically
included in the form of a configurable RM
template
Future of XML at Microsoft
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XML and the whole WC3 model are becoming part of the
emerging Microsoft operating environment from servers to
desktop
Note move to a standard IE interface for system functions
Steps ongoing to build 5015.2-like records management
functions into office suite as part of the Enterprise Content
Management architecture based on the SharePoint Portal
Server, so as to get business from governments
Creation metadata thus vital to this whole scheme
Open Office metadata
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Note Open Office metadata itself is just as
complex as the new Microsoft standard
OO object is packaged as a group of files
(see specification, pp. 541-545: the package
is a zip file with an XML manifest file
containing a list of files and their types)
This means also being concerned with zip file
format standard, compression, etc. etc.
[non-Microsoft] Uses of creation
metadata
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Establishing prior art for an invention
Identifying who knew what and when
Showing how an object fits into the larger scheme of
things (preserving the “archival bond”)
Keeping track of versions of an object
Providing assurance of reliability: that the object is
what it purports to be
Anchoring the object in the place and time of its
origin
Placement of creation
metadata
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Same options as for all metadata
Embedded within the object (Word metadata)
Wrapped around the object (object is embedded in
metadata document: Word document containing
metadata embedded in XML document extracting
reliability metadata)
Captured, communicated, or kept separately from
the object (non-text objects but not only them)
UBC Creation Metadata I
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The notion of a complete record
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Medium
Content
Form
Persons (author, writer, addressee, creator)
Acts
Archival bond
Transmission (intent, capability, success)
UBC Creation Metadata II
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“Elements of intellectual form” inside the record:
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Date (time of transmission and receipt; place of
transmission)
Superscription or attestation (author/originator)
Inscription (all addressees and receivers)
Title and/or subject
Disposition/purpose (the intention of the record)
UBC Creation Metadata III
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The notion of reliable record; must in addition to
completeness have:
“Document profile” as container for the object
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Date available (created or received)
Time available (created or received)
[Date and time of further transmission]
Author
Addressee
Subject [classification code, registry number]
DoD 5015.2 Recordkeeping
Standard: Assumptions
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Note that 5015.2 assumes an entire detailed
recordkeeping system that fully accounts for
all records at the series, folder, and individual
level
The “file plan” defines the recordkeeping
system; the “schedule” is applied to entities
defined in the file plan
DoD 5015.2 metadata,
*=mandatory
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Unique identifier*
Supplemental marking list
Subject/Title*
Media type*
Format*
Date filed*
Publication date*
Date received
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Author/Originator*
Addressee*
Other addressees*
Originating organization*
Location
Vital record indicator
Vital record review/update
cycle*
User-defined fields
DoD 5015.2 email metadata
mapping
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Sender (Author/Originator)
Primary addressees (Addressee)
Other addressees (Other addressee)
Date/time sent (Publication date)
Date/time received (Date received)
Subject (Subject/Title)
Date/time and persons: vital to
records’ reliability
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Without date/time, not possible to manage records
by date: cutoffs, retention, destruction
Without persons (author, recipient, creator), nobody
would care
Without hierarchical set of data categories, no
structure
Note dependence on systems in which records
creation are embedded
What about non-text objects?
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Creation metadata for non-text objects covers
much the same ground:
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Information about occasion of creation, including
technical information (version of coftware,
settings)
Information about creator, intention, receiver
Information about the object itself
Connecting metadata to a nontext object
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Object is kept in specifically-defined file structure
File name/ID is crucial to the connection
XLink is used to connect the two using a series of
XML attributes:
<graphic
xmlns:xlink=“http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink”
xlink:type=“simple”
xlink:href=“usr/local/coll1/object9.tif”
xlink:show=“new”
xlink:actuate=“onRequest”
/>