Metadata Framework

Glossary

administrative metadata

Used for managing the digital object and providing more information about its creation and constraints governing its use

content file

A file that is either born digitally or produced using various kinds of capture application software. Audio, image, text, and video are the basic kinds of content files. Versions of a content file may be dispersed across several file formats. For example, an image may be scanned into a TIFF file and then JPEG and GIF files may be created from the TIFF file to increase delivery speeds and protect property rights.

complex digital object

Includes two or more content files (and their format variants or derivatives) and corresponding metadata. The content files are related as parts of a whole and are sequenced logically, such as pages. For example, a complex digital object could consist of a multi-page diary scanned as TIFF images, from which are generated display images (JPEGs and GIFs), plus a transcription of the diary and the metadata for each file. See also simple digital object.

descriptive metadata

Metadata used for the discovery and interpretation of the digital object. Descriptive metadata may be referred to externally or indirectly by pointing from the digital wrapper to a metadata object, a MARC record, or an EAD instance located elsewhere. Or, descriptive metadata may be embedded in the appropriate section of the digital wrapper.

metadata

Structured information about an object, a collection of objects, or a constitutent part of an object such as an individual content file. Digital objects that do not have sufficient metadata or become irrevocably separated from their metadata are at greater risk of being lost or destroyed. Ephemeral, highly transient digital objects will often not require more than descriptive metadata. However, digital objects that are intended to endure for long periods of time require metadata that will support long-term preservation.

rights management metadata

Administrative metadata that indicates the copyrights, user restrictions, and license agreements that might constrain the end-use of the content files.

simple digital object

Comprised of a single content file (and its format variants or derivatives) and the metadata for that file. For example, a TIFF of the Mona Lisa, a user JPEG, a reference GIF, and the appropriate metadata would comprise a simple digital object. See also complex digital object

Metadata used to indicate the logical or physical relationship of the content files comprising the complex digital object, e.g., the sequence of pages for a group of images of a diary or of detailed images of a larger image. The structural metadata specifies a coherent presentation of the digital content and its pertinent associated metadata.

technical metadata

Administrative metadata that describes the technical attributes of the digital file.