Metadata: Data about the data

Basics of metadata

• To become data detectives, we have to be readers—and writers—of metadata.

Metadata is almost like the liner notes to an album (in this metaphor, the music itself would be the dataset).

• Metadata provides information about data. Recording information about datasets is just as important as the dataset itself. Metadata can help answer questions such as:
  • Who collected the data?
  • What methods were used?
  • Why? For what purpose?
• This information is vital for considering how we should or should not use any given dataset.

Where to find metadata

• If it exists, metadata will typically be on the page where you downloaded the dataset or in a separate textfile that is downloaded with the dataset.
• Sometimes, metadata is embedded in a data file itself.
  • But there are many different formats that metadata can take, from simple descriptions to complicated computer-structured formats.
  • Metadata is itself data!
• When in doubt, ask a librarian.

Making your own metadata