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

[Wendy Thomas]

Personally, I think the difference is in the quality of the metadata.
Metadata captured at point of conception by an automated means is a)
preferable simply because is lessens the burden on the investigator, and b)
theoretically more accurate (but is it?). Does this differentiation make a
difference to the end user? to the resulting research? I'm not sure. That
said, if users think this is important be sure to file it as a JIRA issue
with the DDI Technical Committee so that it can be reviewed for addition to
the standard. That said, we do have in DDI Codebook the ability to identify
if the metadata content was provided by the source or by the archive. In
Lifecycle that is accomplished by the ability to layer on information from
the archive to that received by the archive.

Wendy

On Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 4:58 PM Gautier, Julian <juliangautier at g.harvard.edu>
wrote:

> 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/>
> ᐧ
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>


-- 
Wendy L. Thomas                              Phone: +1 612.624.4389
Data Access Core Director                 Fax:   +1 612.626.8375
Minnesota Population Center             Email: wlt at umn.edu
University of Minnesota
50 Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
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