Introduction
Metadata is now an essential component of ‘FAIR” archaeological datasets and goes hand-in-hand with controlled vocabularies. There are many different vocabularies in use, too many to list here, but the important point is to follow the relevant national heritage and archaeological vocabulary standards for your country. These resources aim to introduce the concepts behind metadata and vocabularies that make data interoperable and reusable, how the underlying model is created through to using tools and services that help with aspects such as cleaning, enhancing and mapping metadata as these become available from ARIADNEplus.
| Title | Description | Source (URL) | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Metadata. Third Edition. | General metadata overview aimed at GLAMs which covers aspects such as how web search engines work, rights management and curation. | Getty Research Institute | Six chapters consisting mainly of text. | Basic |
| Understanding Metadata. What is metadata, and what is it for. | This primer discusses the latest developments in metadata for Cultural Heritage and the new tools, best practices, and resources now available. | Jenn Riley, NISO | PDF primer book (50 pages) | Basic |
| Formal Ontologies: A Complete Novice’s Guide | A complete module which looks at data heterogeneity, ontologies and semantic data, concluding with use of CIDOC-CRM for mapping data. | PARTHENOS Training Suite | Six modules consisting of texts and videos. | Basic – intermediate |
| Introduction to Conceptual Modelling | Introduces the basics of conceptual modelling and ontologies, covering the principles and techniques that can be used in order to formulate the knowledge we have about a specific domain. Prepared by Prof. Panos Constantopoulos, Athens University of Economics and Business & Digital Curation Unit, Athena Research Centre. | dariahTeach | Video presentation | Basic – intermediate |
| Describing 3D Models: Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata Standards | A compilation of links to thesauri and other sources useful for the description and annotation of cultural artifacts, architectural and artistic works, or archeological and historic sites (and 3D models of all of these). | Henri, Janine: UCLA Library | Compilation of many text resources. | Intermediate |
| PeriodO | PeriodO is used by ARIADNEplus to harmonise the different historical time periods used worldwide when preparing metadata for the Portal. PeriodO is a public domain gazetteer of scholarly definitions of historical, art-historical, and archaeological periods. It eases the task of linking among datasets that define periods differently. It also helps scholars and students see where period definitions overlap or diverge. | PeriodO | Website (download tool) | All levels |
| The Getty AAT (Art & Architecture Thesaurus) | The Getty AAT is used by ARIADNEplus as the primary classification source for describing each type of entity for which a metadata record is created. It is one of the most widely used Thesauri, serving as a base to which additional classifications can be added for specific uses by various end users. | Getty Research Institute | Website which explains what it is and how to use it. | All levels |