Keeper Ines carries a box of sheets to the crew. "These were all on the desk this morning. Which ones are finished?"
Comet flips through them. "This one has answers. So does this one. But when were they filled in?"
Wren holds up two sheets that look the same. "And who collected them? One came from the screen, and one is a paper form."
"What do you notice?" he asks. "The answers are here, but the story of each sheet is missing."
Nova hovers above the box. "Would you like a hint?" she asks. "Every sheet could carry a small label about itself."
Comet grins. "A label about the data. Let's write one!"
Metadata are data about data. For a picture, the metadata might include the date it was made or its file size.
For a Commons Count sheet, the metadata could be the date, the collector and the method.
Changing or deleting metadata does not change the data itself. The answers stay the same.
Metadata help people find, organize and manage information.
| Label line | Example on one Commons Count sheet |
|---|---|
| Sheet | Commons Count, Q1 to Q6, rows M21 to M30 |
| Date | Collection week, day 3 |
| Collector | Wren, at the front desk |
| Method | Paper form (rows M21, M22, M23 and M30); screen (the other rows) |
This is made-up data from the Commons Count story. The label sits at the top of the sheet, above the rows.
Paper forms were added on day 3, after Wren saw morning members walk past the screen.
Because every sheet has a method line, the crew can find all the paper-form rows in seconds.
Later, they can ask whether paper-form answers look different from screen answers.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Metadata are data about data. | ? |
| Changing the date on a sheet's label changes the members' answers. | ? |
| A method line can help the crew find every paper-form row. | ? |
| The size of a picture file can be part of its metadata. | ? |
Careful work. Tomorrow is Impact Friday: why one source is rarely enough.