Article Summary #5: Digital Preservation Metadata Standards, a LS 566 Post

Image from Educopia Institute

Angela Dappert and Markus Enders in Digital Preservation Metadata Standards discuss metadata within digital repositories. Digital repositories do not just act as a preservation tool for digital objects. They do everything from ingest information to providing access to that information with everything in-between. Repositories also actively work to prevent loss of the data in their care. Metadata is key to the preservation functions. There are several types of metadata that Dappaert and Enders split into four categories.

Description which describes the intellectual entity through properties. Structural which deals with the physical and logical structural relationships. Administrative which is about who handles the care of the digital object(s); it is also referred to as Preservation Metadata. Each of these categories are expanded or combined with another category to create the different standards used in Digital Repositories, i.e. LMER, PREMIS, METS, MPEG-21, and Z39.87. Dappert and Enders explain that there are so many options and the field is still relatively young to set any metadata standard in stone.

Reading this article just made the final piece click in my head how mind boggling complex metadata can be. It's a 3D puzzle with hundreds of possible solutions. I feel like I should sit down with each standard method and spend a week studying each of them. Maybe a week and a half. I do like the fact that they point out that this is still a developing and relatively new field, a fact that I think slips peoples minds because we are so accustom to technology. There are many points in different standards that have to connect to other standards to be able to be shared and, given how many standards there are available, is a massive undertaking.

Article Summary #4:Preservation Challenges in the Digital Age, a LS566 Post

Bernadetter Houghton, in Preservation Challenges in the Digital Age states right off the bat that "the digital preservation field is evolving rapidly." With such a quickly changing field there are many challenges, especially due to the nature of the digital object. Houghton lists different areas where the most common of challenges tend to show up: multiplicities, hardware and storage, software, legalities, metadata, and privacy to name a few. There are different aspects of digital preservation that do not come up when dealing with a physical object. Not only to archivists have to keep an eye on the things of the past but also keep an eye on the things to come. Change happens, it happens a lot and the best way to deal with it is to make the best educated guess on what will come and on what is best to preserve.

Houghton give an excellent overview on many things that come into play with digital preservation. As she pointed out there are many different challenges that come with each method that is used. The biggest problem is when things become obsolete or crash. I am one of many people who has suffered the blue screen of death and lost all my data. Twice. A blue screen of death is the absolute last thing anyone would want to happen to a large digital collection. I understand how important it is to make sure that there are steps and processes in place to avoid any loss of data, because once it's gone, it's gone.

Planning for Metadata, Article Summary #3, a LS 566 Post

Jody Perkins in her article, Planning for Metadata, gives an overview into what it takes to work with metadata. She explains that the creation of metadata requires planning. It cannot be done haphazardly. While designing metadata one has to keep in mind the interoperability issues and what to about about it without affecting the quality of the collection. Collections have to be reviewed and mapped out. Perkins, based on her experience, explains four parts of metadata design: "Evaluation of project collection and associated metadata, review of current standards,  review of other relevant collections, and documentation of decisions related to the selection and implementation of standards."

This article was written about ten years ago. Ten years is like dog years in terms of technology with how everything changes so fast. But the process that Perkins lays out in her article is still relevant today. Things have to reviewed and researched before anything can be implemented in any form. Perkins gives a list of guidelines for standards that I found very helpful (the links are still valid, another plus). There is also a checklist, 'Collection Evaluation Checklist for Metadata Planning' that is well thought out and I am planing on referring
to it for any collection I may work with in the future.

Metadata, Numb3rs, and Library School

I've tweeted about this before and I thought I should expand upon it. My first introduction to the concept of metadata was not in class for Library Science. It had first crossed my attention on the show 'Numb3rs'. For those of you who don't know it's a crime show about tow brothers, one is a genius mathematician the other is a FBI agent and together they solve crimes.

Yes, they solve crime with math.

As a result, concepts like metadata and datamining were shown being applied in a real world format. It helped ground these cerebral concepts in a fun way. It's a fun good show that I highly recommend. The prided itself on keeping the math and its application correct (there were some liberties here and there for the sake of story - but overall, real solid).

It's a bit like going in reverse for me - seeing real world application then learning about the theory.

Metadata is still a little daunting, but knowing and seeing an application of it makes it less so. In the end I can say that yes, I did learn something by watching TV.

Metadata for All: Article Summary #2, A LS 566 Post

From the Article

Mary W. Elings and Günter Waibel in their article Metadata for All: Descriptive Standards and Metadata Sharing Across Libraries, Archives, and Museums discuss integrating digital content in libraries, archives, and museums, and the challenges there in. There are different standards used in regards to handling digital content. They go over the key concepts for the different standards, like data field and structure, and data forma. With each concept they give an example of how it works within the standard method. There is a helpful table (see image) explaining which standards are used in each field. They point out that the success of this endeavor hands on the development of a "homogenous practice in describing like-materials in different institutions."

I am all about across the board standards. It makes sharing and preserving data effective and efficient. Plus the risk of something getting lost in the shuffle is reduced. I would also like to point out that there an awful lot of acronyms in this article (the field in general -we're all speaking in tongues at this point). Despite the article being ten years old, the section on current trends was informative and still relevant. There is a constant need to stay current, especially with the new technology that is always coming out. Library Science is always updating itself so that need of standards is vital.

A Reflection on 'Silence', a Crossposting

Check out my review of the Martin Scoreses film Silence over on 'The Catholic Geeks'!

A Reflection on Silence

Enjoy!

The Play that Goes Wrong performing at The Royal Variety Performance 2015

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.



Enjoy!

Big Metadata Article Summary #1, A LS566 Post

"We kill people based on metadata." - Michael Hayden

The above (and completely unexpected) quote illustrates the massive importance of metadata and how it can be used. Allison Jai O'Dell in her article, Big Metadata: Mining Special Collections Catalogs for New Knowledge talks about how special collection catalogues are full of metadata that can be used for research. But for that to happen the catalogues have to be thought of as big metadata which in turn can be data mined. She points out that it will be a lot of work but the information is there and it just have to be organized.

http://copyrightuser.org/topics/text-and-data-mining/

I have never really thought of library catalogues as a form of metadata before, but it does make a good bit of sense. The aforementioned quote, which comes from the article, made me do a double take, but after the second reading I realized that Michael Hayden was correct. A lot can be learned of someone by the information that is innocuously put out everyday.

Protecting My Tweets and My Six, a LS 566 Post

Well, I did something that I thought I would never do - I got a twitter account. Please cue the dramatic music. The only reason I got one was for school as part of a way to aid in building a learning network with my peers. Yes, it's as cool as it sounds.

Image from Twitter.com

But something weird happened when I went to sign up for an account. Everything was fine until I put in my email address. Apparently there was a twitter account already attached to my email. After a brief moment of feeling my stomach dropping to my feet, I was able to get the account attached to my email suspended by asking for a password reset and in the email Twitter sent there was an option at the bottom "not my account".

I try to be careful of what I put out on the internet, so this did not make me feel better. So I went under 'Settings' to the section 'Security and Privacy' and selected the option of 'Protect my Tweets'.

This means (direct from Twitter's help page):

• You’ll receive a request when new people want to follow you, which you can approve or deny. Learn more.
• Your Tweets, including permanent links to your Tweets, will only be visible to your followers.
• Your followers will not be able to use the Retweet button to Retweet or quote your Tweets. Learn more.
• Protected Tweets will not appear in third-party search engines (like Google search or Bing).
• Your protected Tweets will only be searchable on Twitter by you and your followers.
• Replies you send to an account that isn’t following you will not be seen by that account (because only your followers will see your Tweets).

I'm going to start off protecting my tweets for the time being until I am more comfortable using the site.

Next step, learning how to use 'Feedly'!!

Venerable Fulton J Sheen -The Blessed Virgin Mary- The Woman I Love

In Honor of the Feast Day, I give you Ven. Fulton J Sheen on the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Almost There, a LS 502 Post

Almost there!!!

So close to the end and so close to finishing my conference proposal. I have learned a lot this semester in regards to the technical process of research. I had not realized the extend of preparation needed before it even starts. Literature Reviews were completely new to me and the process of explaining exactly how you intend to go about collecting your data was presented to me in a completely new angle. I just have to review over what I have, edit it, turn it in, discuss about it in class and then I'll be completely done!

Yay Learning!!!

With all the work I've put into this research idea I may keep it for a future directed study. I've learned a lot about digital archives and the process of digital preservation.

I feel like singing, but since I'm not that good at it, I'll let the professionals sing!!!

 

Deja Vu, a LS 502 post

In writing my conference proposal I feel like I'm repeating myself. Which is entirely true since I'm doing mini-versions of my literature review, problem statement, and methodology in under 2,000 words. I feel like there is so much to say, but not enough words to express it clearly. I hope nothing comes across too choppy or muddled.

So much to juggle with the upcoming holiday and this final paper. Welcome to Real Life.

Whittling, a LS 502 Post

My dad is always telling me to stop writing my papers like a novel. I just hate it when very interesting things sound dry, boring, and dull. My challenge now is to whittle away at everything to fit into the 2,000 word maximum for my conference proposal.

With that 2,000 word ceiling I will be going into this with this question in mind: What is the highlight and what is explanation? I think that this is the best course of action for this assignment.

Now excuse me while I find a machete to hack and slash at my papers.

Random Article I found: Secrets behind London’s mysterious deadly fog revealed

Secrets behind London’s mysterious deadly fog revealed – Can it help save China?: No one gave the fog much thought at first. Fog is a regular occurrence in London, after all. It wasn’t until the late afternoon, when the air took on a yellow color and began to smell like fire....

Proposal Examples, a LS 502 Post

His desk is cleaner than mine.

Leaving these here for review and pondering.

• Sample from Claremont
•  AERA example
• GradHacker (why not)

A Step Back, a LS 502 post

What a week! In more ways than one.


I think at this point of my research instead of charging ahead full force (which I've been doing all semester), I am going to take a step back and review everything I have done thus far. I want to make sure that my original intention is still the same since I'm going at it at a broader perspective.

I am going to spend about a day or two looking over what I have before looking at conference proposals. Also, remind myself to take deep calming breaths and not get freaked out by the research.

Election Reflection

Wow.

Just wow, America.

I'm not talking about the results of this year's presidential election. I'm talking about people's reactions. And I am disappointed in many of my countrymen. Going through social media I have never seen so much hate-filled reactions as I have this morning. So many cruses, and demands to be disassociated with people who voted differently than them, and thinly veiled derogatory remarks made me very angry. Where is the 'tolerance' and 'love' that so many people claim to have (especially when things go their own way)? And don't start with the argument that 'it's all going to go away'; that's a cheap cop out.


This year's choices left much to be desired. There was no good option, just the lest bad option, and no one was going to be happy with the result. What we do now will define us. So stop complaining! We take the result that's been given us work with it and make the best of the situation. We have the right to vote, and we should not be belittled for exercising that right.



So America - respect each other!

Third Rock's Why Vote

How I felt this morning.

Done-ish, a LS 502 Post

I have reached that lovely point in which if I wrote anymore on my methodology paper I will start becoming overtly redundant. I am hoping that my sample section is not going to come back and kick me down, but I honestly could not think of any other way of doing it. So, after a final look over I have turned it in. I did get my grade for my literature review today, so I was able to make adjustments based on that before turning it in.

Now, I am going to try to find examples of conference proposals so I know how to set up my own and make it as professional as possible.

Look at me - I'm learning!

While I haven't quite tossed in the one ring into Mount Doom, I have at least crossed the Black Gate into Mordor. All that's left now is my conference proposal, then the end is in sight.

Writing Woes, a LS 502 Post

This may or may not be me right now.
Pre-coffee

On this early Saturday morning I am preparing to write the bulk of my methodology. I have my notes, points I want to make, and a list of terms I am most likely going to use. I usually don't wait to write my papers this late, but I'm in a completely new territory with this paper. I'm not just starting it now, as evident of the pile of note sitting next to my computer (I feel like they're mocking me right now), but I am repeated double checking to make sure I am covering all my points and that I'm conveying what I want to say, so I feel like I've waited til the last possible minute. My biggest problem is that I know what I want to say but finding the proper technical term to describe it is hard. I had that same problem in geometry, I could describe to you the theorems and laws correctly, but ask me the names to those theorems and laws you will get a chorus of crickets chirps and me beating my head on a desk.