| Metadata FAQ |
Updated: 18 July 1997
A. Producers are required to put HTML META tags on all documents on all versions of Intelink. For complete description of the standards, go to the Metadata Home Page. Producers are also required to register all documents with Wer'zit.
Q. When do I start using the new META tags for metadata?
A. The target date for starting to use the new META tags is 1 August 1997. On this date Wer'zit will be able to read the new tags. Because we recognize that a period of transition is needed producers are not required to start using the new metadata tags on 1 August. The target date to have everyone using them is 1 October 1997.
Q. Do I need to put the new metadata tags on all my "old" documents?
A. No, but you might want to. You are compliant if you use the new tags from 1 October 97 or earlier. You should have registered all previous products with Wer'zit, but we know that is not the case for all producers. Wer'zit will remain backward-compatible to the earlier metadata tags, so you can still take advantage of those tags to speed registry of old documents with Wer'zit.
Q. Does metadata have to go on every HTML file?
A. No. The purpose of metadata is to help customers find your products. You need to decide the optimum way to use metadata depending on your products' characteristics. You should have metadata at least for every product. You can break down some product into meaningful subcomponents (e.g., Military Capability Studies) and provide metadata for each section. One rule of thumb is that if you can't break down further by country and subject you may not need to use metadata for subcomponents. An example of this is the DIA Military iographic Sketches which have a page for each country. Although the individual bios are in individual files, the most meaningful access is at the country page level. This is because it is quckly clear which bios are current and which are old. Also related officers' bios are immediately accesible to the customer. Try to get at least a high-level access to all products.
Q. What about using the metadata security tags on all HTML files?
A. Some producers have suggested using the security-related metadata tags on all HTML files. Although this is not required, you may find this provides you with a higher level of security, especially in moving documents between Intelink and Intelink-S.
Q. Are the metadata tags case-sensitive?
A. No. Name = "IL . title" is the same as NAME = "il . TITLE" for parsing the tags. The only place to be concerned about case is the Contents area (between the quotes after Contents = " "). Case will not affect indexing, but you should follow normal capitalization rules. For instance, it is better to use NAME = "IL . title" CONTENT = "Chinese Military (U)" than CONTENT = "chinese military (U)"
Q. If I use metadata, why do I still need to register with Wer'zit?
A. Wer'zit provides access by country and topic to Intelink documents. Currently on Intelink Wer'zit is the search tool that takes the best advantage of metadata. The metadata in your documents will make Wer'zit registration very easy. Wer'zit can read the HTML META tags and load information into its forms for you. Then you just need to double-check what Wer'zit read and add any information you want. The ISMC is working to make metadata creation and Wer'zit registration a one-step process.
Q. IF I have a META tag on a document and don't need to use it, can I the CONTENT blank, or do I have to delete the whole tag?
A. You can leave the CONTENT of a META tag blank and it will be ignored by search engines. However, it may later raise a question in your shop as to whether it was left blank on purpose or by mistake. So you can leave "blank" META tags in if you want.
A. On page C-19 in Appendix C of the
A. You are correct. HTML editors sometimes add meta tags in without you knowing it. The example illustrates that you may see such tags. This is one reason why we decided to go with the IL. format, so that it was easy to tell the Intelink-specific tags from others which may be in HTML documents.
Q. Are you planning to add metadata for things such as coordinates?
A. Yes. We discussed coordinates in the working group, but decided that there were too many complexities to resolve in the time frame we had. In the future we will deal with this issue with the help of those in the community who have already worked the coordinate problem in their various information systems.
Q. What if my documents are dynamically produced from databases?
A. The Metadata Working Group did not have time to experiment with databases to see how metadata could be used with them. Since databases dynamically produce HTML, however, and META tags are just HTML tags, it should not be difficult to register database documents with Wer'zit. However, this assumes that some "primary key" form of URL for each document exists and can be used repeatedly to access the same document. The IMD will work with any document producer to explore this question. See P.O.C. information at the end of this document.
Q. If I am confused about how to use the metadata tags, what do I do?
A. Don't let confusion about the metadata tags keep you from registering documents and making them available to the customers. One good phrase from the Library of Congress (whose rules are much more complex than our rules) is "do not strain for consistency." Do your best, make the information available and then get in touch with the IMD to help resolve any questions. See P.O.C. information below. The IMD will be glad to discuss any questions with you.
These links will soon be updated for Intelink-S and Intelink-U customers:
Mark Kelly, IMO/IMD