While the technicalities of metadata confound me I am interested in the people side and processes required to create it – since it seems to be such a vexed area. Ross Johnson sent me this link. It took about 15 minutes to read and is well worth it.
My browser warned me that this site had a dodgy security certificate but I figured that if it is part of the US government it should be ok.
https://www.nosc.noaa.gov/dmc/swg/wiki/index.php?title=Creating_Good_Documentation
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a US government agency. It is a veritable goldmine about the processes we should use to write documentation including metadata and the different types of people who need to be involved ie.
- Users (current and future)
- Data Collectors/Providers who collect and processing data. (the wiki talks about observations but I think we can substitute data)
- Data Stewards who take long-term responsibility for sharing data often long after the Data Collector/Provider has moved on. Chief communicators with users
- Standards Experts who assist the above
I get the impression that in many jurisdictions it is the standards experts who dominate the discussion rather than playing a supporting role.
The wiki makes the point that all the above must be involved in an iterative process of collecting documentation, formulating it according to standards, checking back with data collectors that it is accurate and then with users that it is meaningful. It even weights how the tasks are split between the groups (60%/30%/10% etc ). It also emphasizes the importance of consulting future users – don’t just assume that everyone will have the same level of knowledge as current ones – so important as we attempt to widen the use of spatial data.
