The Discipline of Organizing: Core Concepts Edition, 3rd Edition

Chapter 4. Resource Description and Metadata

Robert J. Glushko

Kimra McPherson

Ryan Greenberg

Matthew Mayernik

Graham Freeman

Carl Lagoze

4.1. Introduction

Click. A professional photographer standing on a mountainside takes a picture with a digital camera. What information should be recorded and associated with the recorded image of the mountain scene? Modern cameras assign an identifier to the stored photograph and they also capture the technical description of the image’s production: the type of camera, lens, shutter speed, light sensitivity, aperture, and other settings. Many modern cameras also record information about the geographic and temporal circumstances surrounding the image’s creation: the date, time and location on Earth where the photograph is taken. When the image is transferred out of the camera and is published for all to see, it might be useful to record biographical information about the photographer to help viewers relate to the photographer and better understand the photograph’s context. There may also be different licenses and copyright information to associate with the picture—who owns it and how it can be used.

Four 7-year old boys are selecting Lego blocks to complete their latest construction. The first boy is looking for “cylinder one-ers,” another for “coke bottles,” the third for “golder wipers,” and the final boy is looking for “round one-bricks”? It turns out, they are all the same thing; each boy has devised his own set of descriptive terms for the tiny building ...