I felt the author could have written in plainer language, I had to get out a textbook from a previous class to refresh my memory of the Dublin Cores metadata standards.
The Dublin Core (hailing from Dublin, Ohio) brings together disparate information via their use of metadata. It is a system that works with different languages and cataloging systems to possibly have a unified catalog. There are specific pieces of information that each person creating the metadata needs to fill in. For example, Title, date, publisher, etc. Things like date are standardized because some people write the month first while other write the day of the month first. It is essentially a standard way to describe things. They are working to include other cultural definitions of things such as censorship with qualifiers.
The DCMI oversees the use of the standards made by the Dublin Core.
2.) Introduction to Metadata - data about data
I should have read this article first. . . it gives a good over of what metadata entails.
Metadata does not mean the same thing to everyone. It is a way to increase the access to the information a library has. Two examples: Library of Congress Subject Headings and MeSH - Medical Subject Headings.
3 features of an information object:
Content - what it contains, intrinsic information
Context - who, what, why, where - extrinsic
Structure - formal set of associations among info objects
Because metadata means so many different things to different people, systems are needed to make metadata interoperable. Such as the Dublin Core's system.
It was interesting to learn about the various definitions of metadata and their uses by different professions. The most important part of metadata is that it organizes information to make sure what it is describing is able to be retrieved and used.
3.) Database - Wikipedia Article
This article was over my head. While I understood the basic design elements behind setting up a database, eventually that was lost in all the discussion of rows and columns. After the Hierarchical model, which reminded me of an index or thesaurus, I was lost. If pictures or graphical representations had been used I might have had a better understanding all all the differences between the databases.
I didn't understand why each tuple in a relational model was given an atomic value.
5 comments:
I also found the database article confusing. I think the intended audience had a far broader background in IT than I do.
You aren't alone in feeling a bit confused Jen. I've never found DB interesting in the first place, and the article was definitely a challenge for me too. I felt it left out a lot of information that would have made it easier to understand. You did a nice review of metadata.
Hi again! I really enjoyed reading the 'Metadata' article--and you summed it up so well! It made me feel like I finally have a good understanding of the term 'metadata' -- of what it means and how it should be used. In fact, I had just been wondering about that term the week before, so when I saw that we were reading about it, I was quite excited! I hope we get to read more articles similar to this one, that are understandable and enjoyable.
I'm really glad that there are other people who found these articles a bit confusing. It's kind of difficult because I feel like I kind of understand it all (I've been using computers forever so it's instinctive) but I also feel like these articles could have been written with less jargon and more explanation.
As you stated "The most important part of metadata is that it organizes information to make sure what it is describing is able to be retrieved and used." Now as to whom this should be left to, that is the more interesting question to ponder for me. I would prefer to see less of the creator of the database and more of the users having an input into how the database grows and retrieves information.
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