IUFRO International Union of Forest Research Organizations Eero Mikkola The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering The Use of Information and Communication Technology Tools in Forest Research IUFRO-SPDC Pre-Congress Training Course August 2005, Gympie, Australia

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering Metadata is a gateway between information/data and users of information

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering Metadata: - Titles and dates of folders, files and documents - Library systems 1980’s

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering ???? Metadata Today

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering, Importance of metadata Why to create metadata?  Helps user understand data  Facilitates discovery  Protects investment in data

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering, Importance of metadata Helps user understand data  Provides consistency  Focuses on key elements of data  Helps user define the data's fitness for use  Facilitates data transfer and translation by new users Helps people find the data they need and define how best to use it

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering, Importance of metadata Facilitates discovery  Provides information to data catalogs  An organization that takes the time to create and maintain quality metadata will also mostly likely take the time to develop good quality data => Facilities quality  Reduces workload associated with questions about data: users don't have to keep asking producers questions  Cuts overall costs: allows automation of tools which ease overall burden and cost of data population and maintenance  A key element of spatial data sharing

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering, Importance of metadata Protects investment in data  Reduce effect of staff turnover and individual memory loss  Sets the stage for data re-use and update  Provides documentation of data sources and quality

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering The importance of a metadata service  Organizations have long recognized the importance of metadata. However, only few have successfully devised and implemented such a service.  There are a number of reasons for this disconnect – the nature of the task, the state of most software products, and the complexity of the task, both technically and procedurally.

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering There are three major decisions that must be reached when developing a metadata service: 1.Agreed metadata model 2.Choosing the application which will be used to acquire, manage, and distribute metadata 3.Defining and enforcing a methodology for the use and maintenance of the above.

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering Metadata services/initiatives at various level  In house - Intranet  National level  Regional level  Convention level - GBIF,  Global level – GFIS,

The Increasing Importance of Metadata in Forest Information Gathering Similarities and differences of metadata services at various level  Data and information are same for all  Technically metadata is also same  Services are different from their goals and thus they are used for different purposes. => Because of different goals of services they have their own target groups/users

Thank you for your attention! The Use of Information and Communication Technology Tools in Forest Research IUFRO-SPDC Pre-Congress Training Course August 2005, Gympie, Australia