Metadata

Metadata means “information about data” and it is the most important component of any personal archiving project. Metadata documents who created the digital materials, when, where and for what purpose. Metadata is the key to managing, searching and accessing digital files, especially in large collections. It also allows for rich search functionality across multiple collections.

Metadata should also capture the contextual information that describes why a film was created, for what event and who is featured. Describing the visual and sound content of the film and the significance of the artistic work helps to identify the socio-cultural or political context of the film.

The National Information Standards Organization recommends three core categories of metadata:

1. Descriptive (title, creator, keywords, subjects, locations,).

2. Structural (URL links, how documents are ordered, digital preservation needs).

3. Administrative (technical hardware and software requirements, when created, the camera used, intellectual property rights).

There are several subsets of the administrative category; one important subset is technical metadata. Technical metadata identifies

• How the data was created.

• The hardware or software required to access the data.

• The type of camera that created the data.

• Format and software versions.

While many digital cameras generate some metadata at the time of recording (GPS location, creator, time, date, format, type of camera), most other metadata requires human interface, especially intellectual rights designations and contextual information like the project title and descriptions of the events and people captured on film.

Basic metadata should address information about the:

• Production: director, title, short, documentary.

• Distribution: film festivals, art houses.

• Format or software.

• Space or time: 3-D, scene cuts, region motion tracking, reels.

• Color.

• Sound.

• Sound tracks.

• Location.

• Events.

• People or actors.