WHO CARES ABOUT METADATA?

Public Broadcasting
Metadata Dictionary Project

•Example

•

•Data Element: Date

•Qualifier: National Distribution

•Mandatory/Optional: Mandatory

•Description: Date content available for display or distribution within U.S. and Territories.

•Authority File: WC3 DTF (yyyy-mm-dd)

•Result: 20021106


	Let me quickly run through an example of one metadata element…in this case DATE.

	If you’ve worked with producers from Great Britain, you’ve probably noticed that things can get confused regarding date. Today’s date, November 6, would be expressed on a BBC tape label as 6 slash 11, or the 6^th of November. As any good American producer knows, 6 slash 11 is June 11th, not November 6^th!

	On the slide you can see how this critical piece of information would be entered into an asset management system, if one were using an metadata dictionary or shared protocol.

	In this case, the chosen authority file, which dictates how the information is to be expressed, is the World Wide Web Consortium’s Date-Time-Format. It stipulates that a date is year-year-year-year-month-month-day-day. Leaving us with the very exact expression of date that you see at the bottom of the screen. No more cross-Atlantic confusion.