Download VERSION 2.1 USER MANUAL

III. Site Configuration
21
What is metadata? Simply put, metadata is “data about data.” While
Old Man Grinnel’s collection is definitely unique, it is useful to provide
ways for other organizations and databases to be able to “read” our item
information in a common format.
Streetprint’s current implementation of this feature provides basic
metadata using the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative’s metadata terms.
If the “Enable DCMI Metadata” box is checked, DCMI -compliant
metadata tags will be added to the source code of your Streetprint site’s
item/text pages. While this change will not be visible to most browsers, any
software which is “metadata aware” can use this additional information.
The metadata tags added to your Streetprint site’s text/item pages will look
Fig 19. Metadata tags
something like this:
<meta name=”DC.Title” content=”Letter from Ed Nagy”>
<link rel=”SCHEMA.dc” href=”http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core_elements#title”>
<meta name=”DC.Creator” content=”Edward Nagy”>
<link rel=”SCHEMA.dc” href=”http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core_elements#creator”>
(etc.)
Team Streetprint welcomes feedback on our metadata implementation
from experts in this field. The Streetprint Engine’s architecture permits
the addition of multiple metadata formats and XML export options in the
future, should this become desirable.
* For more information on Dublin Core Metadata, visit
www.dublincore.org.
Type Management
Every collection is different, and so the Streetprint Engine’s Type
Management section lets you organize your collection in a useful way,
creating a research taxonomy which will be unique to your site. As we’ll
see later, this will also shape the ways in which users will be able to search
and browse your Streetprint site.
The four different “types” which this section lets you manage are document
types, categories, image types, and media types. We’ll examine them in order.
Document Type: Every text, item, or artifact in your Streetprint site has a
single document type. In Streetprint lingo, a document type is simply the