Metadata for Data Management: A Tutorial: Standards/Schema

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What are Metadata Standards and Schemas?

In order to be useful, metadata needs to be standardized. This includes agreeing on language, spelling, date format, etc. If no standard is used, it can be very difficult to compare data sets.

A key component of metadata is the schema. Metadata schema outline the overall structure for the metadata. A metadata scheme describes how the metadata is set up, and usually addresses standards for common components of metadata like dates, names, and places. There are also discipline-specific schemas used to address special elements specific to or needed by a given discipline.

Tips for Finding and Choosing a Metadata Standard

• Your choice of repository may determine your standard. Repositories often require use of a particular standard.
• There are many types of metadata standards/schemas. Some are generic, while others are domain-specific. Generic ones such as Dublin Core tend to be easy to use and widely adopted, but often need to be expanded in order to cover more specific information. Domain-specific schemas have a much richer vocabulary and structure, but tend to be highly specialized and only understandable by researchers in that area.
• Always keep the user's perspective in mind. Pick a scheme that is going to make sense for those who are most likely to access and use your data, as well as those managing and preserving your data.
• Adopt or Adapt? Generally you should be able to find a metadata standard to suit your needs. When you find one, use it. If you find one that is close to your needs, but not quite, you can extend or shorten it to suit your needs (Refer to Recommended Minimum Elements). This may require communicating with the organization that created the standard.

General Purpose Schema

Dublin Core is a general standard first used by libraries, and can be adapted for specific disciplines. Dryad (www.datadryad.org), a digital data repository, uses Dublin Core.

This descriptive metadata standard is richer than Dublin Core, and can be used on its own or as a complement to other metadata standards.

Science Schema

This metadata schema is for describing biological specimens, including their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, samples, and related information. Based on Dubln Core, this schema is used in natural history specimen collections and species observation databases

This metadata schema is for ecological data. EML is implemented as a series of XML document types that can by used in a modular and extensible manner to document ecological data.

NASA has a variety of data format and metadata standards, as well as "heritage" standards that were in use by NASA Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) prior to the start of the legacy ESDS Standards Process Group (SPG).