Difference between revisions of "Template:Metadata"

The metadata template^[1] allows you to store metadata on external resources, especially identification tools or media resources, directly in a Wiki page. The template supports a number of metadata fields, some of which will only rarely be used. The set of metadata fields was decided upon in collaboration between Key to Nature, NBII, GBIF-MRTG, and Morphbank (see Resource Metadata Exchange Agreement on Key to Nature).

Resource collections are considered just another type of resources and can be described using the same template (using Type=Collection instead of Type=StillImage, IdentificationTool, etc.).

The importance of the metadata template is that it contains structured information that can be read by software agents. While it is possible to do some searches directly in the Wiki, software agents reading the information into a database can do more complex external queries. It is possible to design the system such that metadata editing is done directly in external databases, but we believe that the current solution has some advantages. For high value resources such as collections or identification tools, contributors are free to structure a special wiki page describing their resource in text and images, the structured metadata record being just a small part of that information. In other cases, where metadata are typically batch converted and submitted from another database, the Wiki-submission offers a simple low-tech and accessible method for batch submission, including some support for syntax checking on behalf of the submitter.

You can use this form to edit metadata:

See How to add resource metadata on the Wiki for further information.

Test records

Ascochyta allii-cepae
Description: English: This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text.
Creators: Mr. Smith Copyright Statement: (c) xyz xxx License Statement: Creative commons cc-by-sa 3.0 World Region: (Desirable information missing!) Country Codes: (Desirable information missing!) Subject Category: Fungi Scientific Names: Ascochyta allii-cepae Scientific Names with Author: Ascochyta allii-cepae Punith., Gladders & McKeown.	Type: StillImage Language: no linguistic content (zxx) Resource ID: 768479362 Taxon Count: 1 Interactivity: hyperlinked ID Tool Structure: Dichotomous

This record was specified as below (raw edit view):

{{Metadata
| Type=StillImage
| Title=Ascochyta allii-cepae 
| Creators = Mr. Smith
| Description = {{Metadata/Description|language code=en|content=This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text. This can be long text, describing the item in free-form text.}}
| Metadata Language=en 
| Language=zxx
| Resource ID=768479362 
| Copyright Statement= (c) xyz xxx 
| License Statement=Creative commons cc-by-sa 3.0
| Scientific Names=Ascochyta allii-cepae;
| Scientific Names with Author=Ascochyta allii-cepae Punith., Gladders & McKeown.;
| Taxon Count= 20 
| Taxon Count= 1
| Interactivity = hyperlinked | ID Tool Structure = Dichotomous 
| Best Quality URI=http://160.45.63.11/Storage/Fungi/Coelos/AscochytaPunith/edt/AscP88-006.png
| Best Quality Availability=online (login)
| Medium Quality URI=http://160.45.63.11/Storage/Fungi/Coelos/AscochytaPunith/low/AscP88-006.png
| Medium Quality Availability=online (free)
}}

Note that blanks before or after the "=", and new lines between metadata fields do not matter. Also, the sequence of parameters does not matter. If parameters are repeated, only the last occurrence of the parameter will define the value (compare Taxon Count in the example above).

As shown below this template tries to give apropriate information if something is missing:

Example for erroneous resource type and missing URI
Creators: (Please consider adding this information) Copyright Statement: Copyrighted Material; the copyright remains with the author (not this web publication) License Statement: Creative Commons: Author Attribution Required, Share-Alike (cc-by-sa 3.0) World Region: (Desirable information missing!) Country Codes: (Desirable information missing!) Subject Category: (Desirable information missing!)	Type: “Type=Image” is no recognized value. Did you mean “StillImage”? Language: undetermined (und) Interactivity: 'interactive' is no recognized value for interactivity; please use ‘n/a’, ‘static’, ‘hyperlinked’ or ‘dynamic’. ID Tool Structure: 'dichtomous' is no recognized value for the structure of identification tools. Please specify something like ‘n/a’, ‘dichotomous’ or ‘multi-access’. For more values see documentation.

A minimum example can look like:

{{Metadata
| Type  = StillImage
| Title = Bombus barbutellus color pattern (female)
| Scientific Names    = Bombus barbutellus;
| Metadata Language   = en 
| Language = zxx
| Copyright Statement = © Paul Williams, NHM
| Creators  = Paul Williams - NHM
| Subject Category    = Insecta
| General Keywords    = Schematic drawings; Bumblebees;
}}

Additional temporary or technical documentation

This metadata infobox is full width, non-floating. It has two columns of fields (i.e. 3-4 table column) in the middle, plus some fields column spanning as a Header (Title, Logo, Descriptions) and Footer (URIs). Not all fields are labeled; those that are not are labeled with a tooltip (pop-up if mouse hovers).

Used semantic properties

Additional properties are:

• ac:furtherInformationURL
• dwc:associatedMedia

Further semantic properties are named after the template parameters, but note that most of them are mapped in the property name space to well defined ontology vocabulary concepts using the import mechanism by Semantic Media Wiki.

Dependencies