Q:4 How should I describe my dataset?

How will you describe your data? What needs to be documented for someone else to use the data? How will you document your data? Will you need a README file? Are your filenames useful?

Since organizing/naming your files is a big part of making them usable later, here is an additional tutorial on file names and basic data management.

Does the repository you will use have a metadata standard (e.g., Darwin Core, EML)? For example, DigitalCommons@USU uses Dublin Core.

What is Metadata?

Metadata is information about the context, quality, provenance, and/or accessibility of a set of data. In order for your data to be accessible to you, your colleagues, and other researchers, it must be properly documented. Put Simply:

Metadata is:

Frequently required for depositing a data set in disciplinary repositories, or for publishing in a research journal;
Necessary for the longevity and reproducibility of research data;
Useful for analyzing the data in data files.

Common examples you see every day include:

Title, Author, and Publication Date information used to find a book or journal article
Nutritional information on a package of food
Information you enter about yourself on a social networking site such as LinkedIn
Information on the IMDB database about the movie Apollo 13 (Director, Writers, Starts. etc.), or any other movie, TV show. etc.