[DDI-users] Thoughts about why you would need to express that metadata is user- or system-generated

[Gautier, Julian]

Hi everyone,

In cases where metadata is both user-generated and system-generated, why
would it be important to indicate (e.g. in some attribute in a metadata
document or in a user interface) which metadata is entered by people versus
entered by a system? Here are some examples of what I mean by user- and
system-generated metadata:

User generated:
- Typing your name in an author field
- Choosing a term from a vocabulary

System generated:
- When a system applies a timestamp (publication date or version date),
- When a system uses an algorithm that uses a common name dictionary and
other metadata to figure out that an author is a person or an organization
- When a system uses the semantic relations among other metadata to infer
something, like a person's place of birth

If anyone could point me to discussions about the importance of expressing
when metadata is user- or system-generated, if this is even a concern, that
would be awesome!

I know this question is broader than just this DDI listserv; just thought
I'd start here since I'm familiar with Codebook and also wondering if there
would be a way to express in Codebook that certain metadata is user or
system generated.

Thanks for reading!
Julian

-- 
Julian Gautier
Product Research Specialist, IQSS <http://www.iq.harvard.edu/>
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