Research data

Metadata

Metadata is used to describe the data, it provides context for the research and helps with the ability to find relevant research data. 

Types of metadata

1. Descriptive
   • Who created the data and who else was involved?
   • When was it created?
   • How was it created?
   • What does it contain?
2. Administrative
   • What are the licensing requirements for use? Note the section on Creative Commons Licensing.
   • What rights management is in place? Copyright / Intellectual Property / Indigenous Knowledge / indigenous Culture and Intellectual Property
3. Structural
   • What is the format?
   • How is it organised? 
   • What types of data are contained? For example: text, numerical, dates.
4. Relational
   • How does it relate to other information of datasets? Different domains of research may have different types of data. For example: there could be a language code placed on the recording and be findable alongside other data from the same language code.
     • Put in as much as possible
     • metadata is a decision-making process
     • metadata needs to be dynamic
     • metadata exists in time
     • metadata needs consistency.