Towards contextually descriptive embedded metadata
Matthew P. Miller, Christopher J. Mullin · 2011
Contextually descriptive embedded metadata has been utilized in a number of applications. Many HTML webpages contain meta tags with information reflecting the content of the page. Likewise, microformats are continually striving to make web documents more accessible by embedding descriptive data. One widely known application of contextually descriptive embedded metadata is found in digital music files such as the MP3 format; this format contains embedded data such as artist and song title information. However, digital images, ubiquitous throughout digital archives, are a medium that has been slow to experience this technology. While recent advancements in using embedded metadata in administrative and structural work flow situations have been made (Christensen & Dunlop, 2010) the focus of our work is on contextually descriptive metadata. This type of information would represent metadata such as an artist name or the title of a painting. Advocating and promoting the creation and usage of contextually descriptive embedded metadata supports the digital push towards semantic-based, readable archival programming and the subsequent effective ease of use it provides file creators and end users alike. To explore embedded metadata in images and other digital assets, a system that understands and leverages embedded metadata to demonstrate its utility and serves as a foundation for further applicative research was conceived and actualized. The first step taken was the construction of the Embedded Metadata Explorer (EME), an online embedded metadata editor. This tool (located at