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Help & guidance Guides to Good Practice

Metadata and documentation

Kieron Niven, Archaeology Data Service / Digital Antiquity, Guides to Good Practice

Metadata for vector images is discussed in detail in The Significant Properties of Vector Images (Coyne et al 2007), from which the elements below are taken, and on the JISC Digital Media page discussing ‘Metadata and Digital Images’. The elements below are largely Dublin Core[2] elements which are most usefully generated by the image creator. In addition, some technical elements are suggested (only a subset of those presented in The Significant Properties of Vector Images) which may be optionally completed by the data creator.

Element Description
Identifier A unique identifier for the image, usually the filename
Title / Caption The title of the image or a suitable caption
Description/Purpose Description of the image
Creator Name of image creator
Date Creation date
Rights Details of copyright or other rights and holder details
Keywords Keywords e.g. period, site or feature terms. Use suitable thesauri where they exist
Provenance/Relationship to other documents Description of where the image originated and how (if relevant) it is related to other files
Conventions If applicable and not contained within the document, an explanation of all conventions used (colours, layers, line styles, line weights, etc.)

Additional basic technical metadata

Element Description
File Format and Version e.g. SVG 1.1
File Size Size of the file in bytes
Software Software used to create the image e.g. Adobe Illustrator

[2] http://dublincore.org/