Before completing the metadata module, I had no real clue what metadata even was. I had heard the term used but had never truly engaged with it. Now, I fully understand its complexities and importance. A definition is essential to begin discussing metadata. Metadata is facts or attributes describing an item, such as a book, document, computer file, image, or artwork. These attributes are used to convey the digitized item and assist in the cataloging and processing digitized artifacts. Beyond this, it gives the item context in the greater field of research. Because of the nature of the current world, it is hard to access all material in person, and thus, the digitized image and its metadata assist immensely. In this unit, I digitized various items in my kitchen through photographs. The image below is of four skillet pans sitting on a stove. The metadata for this object is broken down into categories based on the Dublin Core metadata vocabulary. The critical pieces included are the title, the subject, a description of the photo, the source, the format, and the rights associated with the item.

This other photo was of many of the various coffee syrups and my toaster.

Using these images, I created metadata concerning the various dimensions of the photo and attributes of valuable resources such as Tropy, where I can store all of the images and the metadata surrounding them. After exporting the metadata to Omeka, I created a cohesive and well-organized exhibit of my digitized sources and utilized the metadata. This has been an amazing learning experience for me as I have discovered all of the valuable resources available for no cost and can improve the efficiency of one’s research. Metadata gives one easy access to the rights, format, type, original location, and where the item is stored.

Metadata is essential in the digital humanities because it provides an easy means of finding crucial aspects of media included in research. The key areas of particular importance to the digital humanities are prominence information or the original location and history of the item. Without this, the item merely becomes another ordinary object. As a historian, provenance is especially important in understanding the historical context.  Another key area of essential metadata is the rights of the object. When researching, one always has to be cautious not to violate copyright and fair use, and thus, having the rights information included with the data makes it far more simplistic. Finally, understanding the creator and where the item is currently housed is essential to digital humanities scholarship. Knowing where the object was digitized and is stored helps the researcher better understand the object within the archival context. Still, it also assists in understanding if any inherent biases are present. This is crucial because these biases could potentially harm one’s research.

Digital humanities scholarship also greatly benefits from the programs Tropy and Omeka. Tropy allows for importing all objects needed to catalog and create metadata in one central location, and the interface is highly accessible for the less technologically inclined. Storing these objects and creating metadata makes one step of the research process much more manageable. Using Tropy to create metadata also allows for the export of this data into Omeka. Omeka utilizes Dublin Core metadata vocabulary that is more detailed and provides more context to the items. Beyond this, Omeka allows digital humanities scholars to create exhibits to share their resources through a digital professional environment. Omeka is also important in the metadata organization and creates another central location for the research process. Overall, using, creating, and sharing metadata through platforms like Tropy and Omeka is pivotal to the digital humanities and the future of research.