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HB 256:2007
Handbook
Metadata usage in Australian and New
Zealand education and training


















COPYRIGHT
Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand
All rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written
permission of the publisher.
Jointly published by Standards Australia, GPO Box 476, Sydney, NSW 2001 and Standards
New Zealand, Private Bag 2439, Wellington 6020

ISBN 0 7337 8270 1
First published as HB 256:2007.
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HB 256:2007 2


PREFACE
This Handbook has been prepared as a collaborative project by members of the Joint
Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committee IT-019. Computer Applications
Information and Documentation, sub-committee IT-019-01, Information Technology for
Learning, Education, and Training and the Australian Information and Communications
Technology in Education Committee (AICTEC).
The objective of this Handbook is to provide information and practical guidance for the
creation and management of online content in the learning, education, training, educational
administration and research environments.
This Handbook represents a snapshot of learning in this dynamic area at the time of
publication. The ongoing maintenance of this Handbook will be contingent on user
feedback, technology changes and implementation experience. Standards Australia
welcomes feedback and contributions, which will be dealt with by IT-019-01.
Standards Australia acknowledges the financial contribution of the Australian Government
through the Department of Education, Science and Training that enabled the development
of this document. The contribution of Jon Mason and Helen Galatis of InterCog Pty Ltd is
also acknowledged.

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3 HB 256:2007


CONTENTS
Page
1 SCOPE AND OVERVIEW......................................................................................... 5
1.1 Scope........................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Audience...................................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Context ........................................................................................................................ 5
2 INTRODUCTION TO METADATA.......................................................................... 6
2.1 Defining metadata........................................................................................................ 6
2.2 Types of metadata........................................................................................................ 7
2.3 Specific metadata types ............................................................................................... 9
2.4 Function and uses of metadata................................................................................... 11
2.5 Folksonomies............................................................................................................. 12
2.6 Other types of metadata ............................................................................................. 13
2.7 Why use metadata?.................................................................................................... 13
2.8 Principles of creating metadata.................................................................................. 14
3 IDENTIFYING BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS....................................................... 14
3.1 Initial considerations.................................................................................................. 14
3.2 OutcomesChecklist ................................................................................................ 15
3.3 Designing a systemChecklist ................................................................................. 15
3.4 AudienceChecklist ................................................................................................. 15
3.5 Scoping requirementsChecklist.............................................................................. 16
3.6 Design and implementationChecklist..................................................................... 16
3.7 Key functions of metadata ......................................................................................... 16
4 METADATA SCHEMAS......................................................................................... 19
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 19
4.2 Application profiles ................................................................................................... 19
5 DEVELOPING A NEW METADATA SCHEMA.................................................... 20
5.1 Developing an application process............................................................................. 20
5.2 Location of metadata ................................................................................................. 21
5.3 Vocabularies, classification and taxonomies.............................................................. 21
5.4 Bindings .................................................................................................................... 25
5.5 Harvesting and federated searching ........................................................................... 27
6 METADATA TOOLS............................................................................................... 29
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 29
6.2 Types of tools ............................................................................................................ 29
6.3 More information about tools .................................................................................... 32
7 METADATA SKILLS.............................................................................................. 33
7.1 Basics ........................................................................................................................ 33
7.2 Technical metadata skills and knowledge .................................................................. 33
7.3 Technical skills and knowledge ................................................................................. 34
7.4 Technical information management skills and knowledge......................................... 34
7.5 Useful training........................................................................................................... 35
7.6 Formal training .......................................................................................................... 35
7.7 Informal training........................................................................................................ 36
7.8 Email lists.................................................................................................................. 36
7.9 Self training............................................................................................................... 37
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HB 256:2007 4


APPENDICES
A USE CASE ................................................................................................................ 38
B ACRONYMS............................................................................................................. 44
C GLOSSARY OF TERMS .......................................................................................... 48
D REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 53
E METADATA SCHEMASCOMMONLY USED METADATA SCHEMAS IN
EDUCATION ........................................................................................................... 54
F CLASSIFICATIONS AND VOCABULARIES......................................................... 62
G MONITORING DEVELOPMENTS.......................................................................... 66

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5 HB 256:2007

COPYRIGHT
STANDARDS AUSTRALIA/STANDARDS NEW ZEALAND

Handbook
Metadata usage in Australian and New Zealand education and training

1 SCOPE AND OVERVIEW
1.1 Scope
This Handbook introduces the topic of metadata and documents current practices with
particular focus on the Australia and New Zealand environment. The Handbook provides
guidance in clarifying business requirements, helps with decision making processes and
assists in determining courses of action by providing a wide range of relevant references
and sound advice. It is designed to serve the needs of the education and training sector in
Australia and New Zealand, including pre-school, primary, secondary, vocational training,
higher education and research.
It is recognised that different sectors, organisations and individuals may have different
needs and will make different metadata choices. Therefore it is recommended that this
document be used in conjunction with other more detailed sources of information, many of
which are referenced and listed in appendix D along with other documents referred to in
this Handbook.
Appendix A provides examples of ways metadata can be used for education and training.
Appendices B and C provide a list of relevant acronyms and a glossary of terms,
respectively.
1.2 Audience
This document is intended for use by practitioners in the Australian and New Zealand
Education and Training community who are non-expert metadata users and who may be
called upon to design, develop or use metadata within their organisation. They may be
cataloguers, metadata creators, learning object developers, system implementers, system
designers or decision makers or managers: indeed, anyone involved in providing or
organising content for an information management system or repository. The document may
also be useful to students of information or knowledge management.
1.3 Context
Within education and training communities worldwide, and in the broad context of
networked online environments, metadata is used to support the management, discovery and
use of digital resources for information sharing, teaching, learning and research. Metadata
design and use has been the subject of much attention since the development of the World
Wide Web and the emergence of digital systems that support learning and knowledge
management. This document aims to be broadly applicable to this environment.
In terms of the broader picture of usage it is important to note that metadata is only one
aspect of the interoperability requirements of information technology (IT) infrastructure.
Interoperability also requires many different people and systems to act in accordance with
commonly agreed standards and protocols appropriate to their requirements and
circumstances.
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HB 256:2007 6

COPYRIGHT
2 INTRODUCTION TO METADATA
2.1 Defining metadata
A commonly used and simple definition of metadata is structured data about data. This
definition, however, does not really convey its broader and emerging meaning.
Metadata is typically descriptive information about an object or resource, whether it is
physical or electronic. A simple example might be the publication date of an article. In
some cases, however, metadata can be represented in the form of codes or identifiers, and
as such, is not necessarily human-readable text nor descriptive.
While the term metadata is relatively new in online contexts, the underlying concepts have
been in use within catalogues of library collections for hundreds of years as a means for
collection management and resource discovery.
Metadata often consists of attributes of a resource, many of which can be regarded as
objective. Examples include the title, author, publisher, date the resource was created, the
type of format it is, its size, and version. Other important attributes typically present can be
regarded as subjective. Examples include description, keywords, and audience.
Metadata can be present in various ways. It can be incorporated as part of a resource, when
it is encoded and included in the non-visible head section of a resource such as a web
page. It can also be stored externally to the resource in a separate file, such as a catalogue
or directory.
Metadata can be generated either manually or derived automatically using software.
Organisations can create templates for metadata so certain attributes can be captured in a
consistent way and saved and made accessible to search engines. Metadata is also collected
automatically by spider tools (software that crawls through vast amounts of web-based
information) and used as indexes by search engines.
In recent times a new capability has emerged that provides a means for Internet users to tag,
bookmark and organise online resources through the allocation of user selected tags
(keywords). Services like Flickr and del.icio.us allow users to tag resources in any way that
is meaningful to them. This practice has already gained significant acceptance and is being
used by portals and service providers alongside formal methods in improving
discoverability.
In both the literature and practice, it is common to find references to both metadata is and
metadata are. Such difference in usage does not indicate a substantive difference in
concept.

Further information about metadata is available from:
DCMI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
http://www.dublincore.org/resources/faq/#whatismetadata
CETIS FAQ
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/metadatafaq/1GeneralQuestions

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HB 256:2007, Metadata usage in Australian and
New Zealand education and training