Metadata is the data that you use to describe and document the research data that you have collected. It contains descriptive elements, of which examples are listed below. Metadata will make your data sets searchable in an archive or repository, easily located from a citation, and easily understood by people who might want to use your data.
These are some ISO suggested minimal metadata elements to use when you are documenting your data:
General: Dublin Core | MODS
Social Science: DDI
Humanities: TEI | VRA
Sciences: Darwin Core | ITIS | EML | DIF | CIF | SEED | FGDC | ISO 19115 | GIF
A metadata standard or schema is a set group of elements that have been standardized for a particular field. Please contact your subject specialist if you need to know more about metadata standards used in your discipline.
Metadata Concept Map by Amanda Tarbet is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
* Note: Geospatial Interoperability Framework discontinued.
