Overview
What is metadata? Seems like an obvious question, right? It’s just data about data–data that is “so meta.”
One obvious example to point to right away is library MARC (machine-readable cataloguing) records. This is the record for the e-book version of Angela Davis’s Women, Race, and Power. This metadata details not just the resource itself–we see it’s an e-book and get its table of contents–but it also connects it to other materials via Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Another example is this record for “Mellow ‘Cello” in the Internet Archive. Here, we get important recognizable information (like the performance date, performer, and writer) as well as specialized codes, like “Matrix number” and “Catalog number” that could prove to be useful.
But why is it important? Metadata is magical in that, if it exists (or if you create it) it infinitely boosts the utility, the preservation, and the scholarly or community impact of whatever it’s describing.
In terms of utility, in the examples above, because they have fairly detailed metadata, they could lead us to things like other works by Angela Davis–or criticism of her scholarship–or, broadly, to other digitized 78rpm’s in the Internet Archive.
When it comes to preservation, if somehow the e-book version of Women, Race, and Power were destroyed, so long as we have its metadata, we can perhaps subscribe to it again or make it again. Or if, somehow, the e-book version of Women, Race, and Power were irrecoverable, at least we still have a record of its existence. (It’s not uncommon, in physical and digital archives, to find metadata about data that no longer exists and will never exist again.)
Finally, metadata has a scholarly and community impact in that it’s not neutral–it’s never created with disinterest, and it’s not used bereft of a message. There are Library of Congress subject headings that are bigoted (like “illegal alien children — California”), so as a result, scholars challenge these forms of metadata, communities reject them, and often they come up with newer and more just forms and standards of metadata.
How do you record metadata?
There are many different standards for creating metadata (we mention library MARC standards above), but the one we’re going to use in this podcasting workshop is Dublin Core. This is a standard that many people use in digital scholarship and the digital humanities projects, in general, and if you end up using a platform like Omeka, you’ll notice that Dublin Core is incorporated into its structure.
What metadata do I need for a podcast?
We highly recommend reading through the podcaster’s guide to RSS from the Apple Podcasts Connect site. You will learn about the specific metadata tags used by Apple to identify and generate podcast series and episodes pages on its podcast directory.
Podcast metadata is split into two types: channel and episode. Channel is the podcast “show” – it is the series that is the container for all episodes. Episode is each individual audio file uploaded for the channel.
Channels
Required channel tags used by Apple, and most other podcast directories include:
- Title – the show title
- Description – the show description
- Itunes:image – artwork for the show
- Language – the language spoken on the show
- Itunes:category – for a complete list of categories, browse the Apple Podcasts categories list
- Itunes:explicit – parental advisory information
Other recommended tags for the channel are:
- Itunes:author – the author or authors responsible for creating the show
- Link – an associated website of the podcast
- Itunes:owner – contact information for the show owner
- Copyright – the show copyright details
Episodes
Required episode tags used by Apple, and most other podcast directories include:
- Title – the episode title
- Enclosure – includes the show URL, length and type
Other recommended tags for episodes are:
- Guid – the Globally Unique Identifier; the GUID will never change even if other elements of the episode’s metadata does
- pubDate – the published date when the episode was released
- Description – the episode description
- Itunes:duration – the duration of an episode
- Link – an episode link to a corresponding webpage
- Itunes:image – the episode artwork
- Itunes:explicit – parental advisory information
Using the above tag to create an RSS feed is how your podcast will appear in podcast directories like Apple Podcasts.