510: Digital Humanities

What good is data that cannot be found? This is the question that chapter four rivals as it conveys the dangers of lost information if not properly categorized through the use of metadata, markup, and data description. One example of metadata that the book provided was a library record. Libraries hold an immense number of resources from books to maps to journals. Without a library record, it would be seemingly impossible to find the resources one needs, and if not impossible then incredibly inefficient at the least. That’s the purpose of metadata; to use information describing data to organize it in an easily accessible manner. There are three different types of metadata. The first is descriptive metadata which utilizes metadata schemes in order to create classification systems. Then, there is administrative metadata which uses information to help organize data according to use and/or type. Finally there is operational metadata which provides information on what is required for the dat

          In my understanding metadata is the application of organizing, describing, and classifying data. It is often used when trying to summarize large amounts of information. One needs to understand metadata to become sufficient in the humanities search because metadata is one of the sole factors in finding a topic or idea. I liked the example they provided in chapter four and page 53 of The Digital Humanities Coursebook when describing metadata. They say to imagine the data as “information in any form sitting on shelves, in drawers, or boxes (objects, numbers, or files)” and to think of the metadata as the label maker. The metadata organizes everything and provides a structure to all the information. Specifically, my project was organized in multiple ways, the most prominent being organized by year. Yet the timeline is also separated by the British monarchy's royal houses, such as the House of Denmark, the House of Godwin, etc.            As for understanding database design

     Metadata is information about a resource, whether that resource is digital or physical. Essentially, it is data describing data. The book compared metadata to the "Get info" button that you may see when browisng websites or viewing information online. You will discover the date, size, and/or format of a given file. Metadata can be  descriptive, helping with identification, naming, or describing a file. It can be administrative, describing how to access the file and who can access the file. Or, metadata can be operational, describing what steps may be required to view the file. The Digital Humanities Coursebook claims that without metadata, information would be as useful to us as "books on shelves without covers".     Metadata relates to our understanding of Digital Humanities in the way that it allows us to locate information and determine its relevance to us. It follows a set of standards so that information can be spread across our devices in a way that can b

     Metadata is terms applied to data sets to describe what the data is providing information about. For example if you had data about books published in the 19th century, your data might include things like book title, author, and year published. These categories of data are metadata. Metadata is important because it allows data to be identified and interpreted. As stated in The Digital Humanities Coursebook , "Without metadata, information in files would be like books without covers or title pages on shelves without labels" (Drucker 53). When creating metadata schemes standardization is extremely important. While there are many words for one type of thing, when describing information using the same term for the same type of data will allow the data to be found later on with more ease. For example if in one instance you label something as "year published" and in another instance you label the same type of data as "date published" later on if you are sear

    Chapter four discusses metadata, markup, and data description. This is important when setting up and analyzing digital humanity websites and projects. Metadata is defined as a specialized expertise and a world of professional knowledge. There is special importance with research, data description, and organization. The book put this idea into great context by stating “Without metadata, information in files would be like books without covers or title pages on shelves without labels.” Pg. 52 This provides a great visual as to what metadata and classification do for the resources we use everyday.       Metadata relates to how data or materials are put together by relatedness. In my DH project, most of the materials have similar significance and are all related to one topic, so it can be hard to subdivide the materials into even more related groups. They did this by grouping materials by time stamps and what related to the events happening in that moment. This is seen through the descri

     After reading chapters 4 and 5 in the Digital Humanities Coursebook , I have a better understanding of metadata, data description, and database design, which are all important elements to consider in a digital humanities project. Metadata, simply put, is data about data – all the information that can be descriptive, administrative, or operational for usage of the main data. As the textbook describes it, metadata is everything that can be listed under the ‘get info’ option on a digital platform. Descriptive metadata gives information about the data, like the caption of an im ag e. Administrative metadata gives information on how and when the data should be or can be used . Operational metadata describes the necessary digital elements to correctly operate the data, like display factors and resolution. In short, metadata is just helpful information about the main set of data, but just like regular data, it must have standards for its terms and elements for it to be helpful betwee