The discussion on secondary metadata has been spilling over two CETIS
lists. Appologies to those of you on them both, but here's a post to the EC
SIG list which some people on this list might find interesting.
Phil.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: secondary metadata
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 12:42:52 +0100
From: George Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: George Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Oxford Brookes University
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References: <[log in to unmask]>
Phil Barker replies to John Casey's one last question:
>> what is secondary metadata? :-)
>>
> Well, it is structured data about the resource which somehow secondary as
> opposed to primary. But it is important that it is structured.
This is a key point but it has to be asked, what is structure? Natural
language is structured, and questions about whether natural language
searches (for text objects anyway) will be more relevant than metadata,
in time, continue to be worth pursuing. Metastructures, generally, have
much in common with grammar and metadata is a highly simplified "grammar
of information".
>
> The term is used by different people in different ways.
Yes, and therefore it helps, within a community of practice, to have an
agreed set of definitions. Indeed, a definition of a community of
practice might include: uses the same words to mean the same things.
One use, which I
> think is the one which Aida aludes to, is data about the metadata. This is
> the most widespread use outside of the IMS/LOM learning technology world.
> In the LOM, though, this is called meta-metadata.
I prefer meta-metadata for this use.
>
> Another use is metadata from anything other than the primary source: [snip]
This is not a useful definition imo, given that authors often do not add
even their name.
>
> A third use, is that it gives information on how the resource is used, for
> example the metadata which Google keeps on a resource might list how many
> other pages link to the page being indexed. Finally, as a sort of mixture
> of the last two, it's sometimes used to mean subjective opinions and
> contextual reports about the the resource.
Whatever it is called, this is the topic that is of serious pedagogical
interest.
>
> Given the over-use of the term "metadata" and the uncertainty about what is
> meant by secondary, I would avoid using the term.
So what do we call it? I use the term secondary metadata to mean
information about learning objects "in the wild": where they came from,
what other objects they have associated with, where they did it, why,
whether the experience was a good one, who saw them at it ;-) This is
the information that repositories are beginning to attach to objects as
they are checked in and out. This information is partly automatically
harvested and partly added by hand. As Phil says, it is a mixture of the
last two. It is also one of the more interesting things about Learning
Object technologies.
George
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Roberts
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Oxford Brookes University
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Phil Barker Learning Technology Adviser
ICBL, School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
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