METADATA AND DIGITAL LIBRARIES
Using the example of a library, the catalogue can be considered as metadata. A person gene code can also be considered as metadata. A library catalogue is only useful if one knows how to use it. Other wise it can as well be a piece of paper to light a fire with. A library catalogue is a goldmine in the hands of a librarian looking for a particular book. Just like the gene code is a goldmine in the hands a researcher looking at ways of combating or diagnosing disease.
With the advent of the worldwide web, information has become increasingly easily accessible. Instead of having to go physically to a library, one need only to lay their hands on a computer with internet access and viola, all the information in the world is accessible at ones finger tips. One can have access to information contained in far off libraries and in some cases even in private libraries.
One challenge when it comes to accessing old manuscripts is the care needed in handling such materials. Some of it can only be viewed under ultraviolet light others can not be touched by open hands, while others can not be exposed to a humid atmosphere. Since all this information is necessary for the continued advancement of the human knowledge and since knowledge not shared is not knowledge, this material is scanned or photographed and then stored in digital files.
When one visits a library, one can either search for the material they need by title or author. In case one is not sure exactly what they need, that is, they have a general topic they could be directed to the section of the library where books dealing with the general topic are kept. They would then browse until they find one with the kind of information they need
A digital library is a collection of digital information. This information could be from books, journals, periodicals or multimedia. It is usually easily accessible to the general public. There are however restrictions that have to be maintained. This includes ease of uploading and modifying information available to the public. This ensures civility is maintained.
Given that digital libraries hold a very large amount of information, it is therefore necessary to develop a way of retrieving different information. Be it a book, topic, journal, picture, piece of music or even a periodical, access to this information has to be systematic or the library retrieval system would collapse.
Metadata is ideal for this work. Given the versatility of metadata, it is possible to keep a lot of data at the same time and retrieve it without having problems. Metadata makes it possible for many people to access the same information simultaneously without any of them having access problems. It also makes it possible for information to be made confidential and only accessible by authorized persons. This allows for tracking of people accessing such information incase it is used for malicious intentions.
Metadata can be used in video recording (title, director, actors, summary of contents, age rating), books (title, author, subject, chapters, text language). Also it can be used in images (digital photographs and computer created images), labeling audio recordings and also in web pages (web language HTML is metadata).
The question arises, how do we protect metadata since it permeates all aspects of our lives This paper will seek to interrogate on security issues arising from the use of metadata. How secure are digital information available to the public What security measures are available to protect personal information How can one secure a web page from unauthorized manipulation of content How can one secure a document and its content How can one secure personal email communication
Discussion.
Security in this digital age is paramount. People are increasingly finding themselves victims of identity theft. Organizations like bank continuously have to keep updating their security protocols least they fall prey to fraudsters and hackers. For digital libraries, what can they do to secure their systems and contents
Digital libraries can be described as information infrastructure which provides various kinds of data services for promoting knowledge (Guo Zhao 2008). There must be a digital intelligence environment in order to regulate and police dissemination channels and mechanism of information sharing. In order for this to be successful, some guiding principles need to be observed and adhered to. These enables all to operate within a common set of rules in semantic and machine interoperability for any one using metadata standards.
Metadata modularity is characterized by great amount of knowledge, different ways of managing this knowledge and ways to describe each individual resource. It allows for creation of metadata plans by taking advantage of best practices instead of having to design new ones. Thus one does not have to worry about syntax and semantics since this is already taken care of. Since these are the building blocks of information, metadata can be seen like Lego blocks. Their versatility allows for construction of different structures using the same blocks. So does metadata.
Just like human have individual names so too metadata. Since this are the building blocks of data, there must be a unique way of naming and identifying metadata. This should make it easy for anyone working with metadata structures to be able to integrate with already pre-existing systems. For example, just as there are rules and procedures of making and naming catalogues, the same applies for metadata. This makes for universality of operations.
If there exists best practice in metadata systems and this is available for all to use, it should exist in a way that all one needs is the basic structure and one can add on. For example a basic metadata element found in most metadata structure could be the creator who depending on the community could be the author, translator or even designer. But some metadata are unique to specific communities for example wind speed and direction to air traffic data. This should be able to grow on each other effortlessly.
A piece of information could mean different things to different communities. For example, 030609 as an information string could mean 3rd June 2009 or March 6th 2009. In order to go around these challenge additional two things could be done. Firstly, the use of additional qualifiers brings out the specific meaning of the information (use of letter characters instead of numbers to denote the month). Or secondly, to specify the specific structure to for particular elements (specify that dates strings will be monthdateyear). This will mean date information will come from controlled vocabulary. By using controlled vocabulary in particular, metadata will guarantee access and interpretation on information uniformly universally.
Metadata structures must respect linguistic and cultural diversity. In as much as there is need for universality in order to guarantee information is accessible by all, this should not be at the expense of localization. Different characters and symbols mean different things to different communities. Metadata allows for this to be captured accurately. Some areas of uniqueness could include, how different calendars show their dates, which direction people write- left-to-right or right-to-left, and standard of practice and cultural connotations of certain icons and pictograms (Duval, Hodgins, Sutton, Weibel, 2002) When this is tackled interoperability will be achieved.
Metadata will enhance digital library security because of its inherent uses and structure. In resource discovery, it allows for resource identification, brings similar resources together, informing the user where the resource can be found and allowing the resource to be found in relevant criteria. What needs to done while emending the fields and variable is to have a structure that allows for access of restricted materials through laid down protocols for sensitive material.
Increasingly, people store information electronically. The need to be able to organize this stored material in an orderly fashion arises. This has to be done while maintaining the integrity of the material. Metadata allows for this to be achieved more, easily and conveniently through the use of name and location information specified at storage.
In digital libraries, information must be easily understood by both humans and machines. Metadata allows for this. It makes for easy operations of systems with different software and hardware. This particular aspect can be seen as creating a security risk. Since interoperability is integral to metadata use and by extension digital library survival, one of two approaches is used to achieve this.
Cross-system (NISO, 2004), search allows for operators to create their unique search attributes which are shared on a common platform. This ensures the basic design of the information they operate is not compromised. Its like been given a map to a place and ensuring it omits all unnecessary information. In Open Archive Initiative (NISO, 2004), operators translate their metadata into a common protocol for easy harvesting. A search service provider then gathers all this, organizes it centrally in a common index to allow for cross library searching regardless of metadata formats used.
In order to have order in a potentially disorderly world of metadata, standard numbers to identify unique works or objects are used in metadata (this is the vocabulary of metadata). Just like in a conventional library, accessibility is important. Every piece of information is thus given either a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a DOI (Digital Objective Identifier). This assists in easy retrieval of material when needed. It is in these metadata that security features are embedded.
The one thing a library must do is ensure the materials in its custody survive for a long time. This is has been a danger with digital materials especially considering its fragility. Metadata has however allowed for archiving and preservation. In order for this to succeed, metadata is used to track changes to a document over time to allow for continues access even as technology changes. This is also allows for reversal of intentional or accidental corruption or alterations of a digital object.
For metadata to be of use to anybody, it must have a standard by which all people abide by. Just like the alphabet from which language is made, so too metadata. Dublin Core is a simple yet effective standard for use in metadata (Hillman, 2007).
The characteristics of Dublin core are, Title-the name given to the resource. Subject-the topic of the content of the resource, expressed as keywords or phrases. Description - what the resources contains in it. Type - what it is. For example Sound, image, text or in some cases an aggregation of two or more. Source - this is in reference to where the information is gotten from. Relation-this describes if the information is related to any other.
Coverage - extent and scope of the information. Creator-who is responsible for making the information content. Publisher - who has made the resource available. Contributor - who has assisted in the growth the information content. Rights-to whom the rights over and in the information accrue to. Date-could be the date the information was created or even stored, it need be important to the information. Format - digital and physical manifestation of the information. Identifier - an ambiguous reference to the information within a given text. Language - what language the information content is in. Audience - who the intended user of the information is, this may be determined by the creator, publisher or by a third party.
Provenance-a clear statement on the ownership of the information since creation that are important for its interpretation, authenticity and integrity. Rights holder - the person or organization owning or managing the information rights. Instructional method-the process intended for support by the information used to engender knowledge, skills or attitudes. Accrual method - how additional information will be added. Accrual periodicity - frequency of adding new information. Accrual policy - how additional information will be added.
Unfortunately, even with a clear and precise tool as metadata, it is common to get objections ranging from its complexity, lack of implementation finances to others who are not willing to assist users access rights information to materials in their domain (Whelan 2008). What digital libraries need to remember, even driving a stick-car can be complicated. But once one has mastered the basic, building need not be instantaneous but gradual. Step-by-step until one achieves the desired results. Also, rights metadata is not only for intellectual property laws compliance but digital libraries need to remember they are custodians of this information for generations to come. If not well taken care of in entirety, those to come may never understand where they are coming from.
For metadata to be understood, shared and processed in useful ways by computers it must be in a language that they can easily understand. This challenge was overcome through the use of Resource Description Framework (RDF) (Gill 2008). This has become an excellent base from which digital libraries have used to make information easily available to consumers.
Conclusion
It is clear from this research that metadata has been with us for a very long time. It has been used since the turn of the century by librarians and archivists as a tool for keeping and retrieving information (Gilliland, A. J. 2008). Even today, in different areas and aspects of out lives we are continually use metadata in organizing information.
In order to maintain security integrity in digital libraries, this paper agree and supports Choi Rasmussen (2006), assertion that future librarians will have to knowledgeable both in traditional library functions and information technology. These two areas are complementary of each other in an increasingly digital society.
Security will continue to be a major cause of concern in days to come. With the increasing digitalization of information, the people who will take care of security concerns of both information users and consumers will find their services exceedingly sought after. This will increasingly be the distinguishing trait between a good digital library and a mediocre one. If in the age of conventional libraries security was such a sensitive issue, how about now when even more material is available
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