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Embedded Metadata: an explanation with Real World Uses
October 17, 2011
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PowerPoint Presentation
Available on SlideShare
Tip: to see the text for each slide, click on "Speaker Notes" below the image window. Some exercises have step-by-step instructions.
Q&A from the Workshop
Q: Since editing keywords in the Mac inspector doesn’t seem to work the way it should, is there another way to add keywords on a Mac?
A: Yes, you can use iPhoto to edit Keywords (dc:subject), Title (dc:title), and Description (dc:description).
Q: If you add keywords in iPhoto they show up in the keywords panel?
A: No, they do not show in the keywords inspector, but they are captured in the IPTC information. This seems to be a bug in the newer version of Inspector which, hopefully, will be fixed soon.
Q: Why can’t I see IPTC Extension in Photoshop or Bridge?
A: If you're running CS4 you will not see IPTC Extension, only CS5 has it. Also check the arrow on the right-hand side on the window, click the down arrow and make sure that all the metadata options are set to display. IPTC does have a JavaScript plugin for Bridge CS3 & CS4 which has IPTC Extension and PLUS fields.
Q: Is there a limit to how much data can be embedded?
A: Yes, but XMP can store a LOT of data. Exif and IPTC IIM (the older version of IPTC) has strict character limits. XMP does have any official character limits.
Q: Are there illegal characters [in embedded metadata]?
A: Yes, the character "&", "<", ">". Applications usually add escape characters to account for these so they are not a problem.
Q: If you type info in a field in one panel, does it automatically fill in a similar filed in the other panels?
A: Yes. Any change you make to a shared field such as Keywords (DC Subject) all panels that use it will change.
Q: There is an image creator field in VRA under the image section, and one in IPTC. When you fill in one, does it automatically populate the other?
A: Yes. Let’s say two panels read/write to DC Creator – when you edit the first panel and the data is written to the XMP record. Then, when you open the second panel, it reads the XMP record and displays the data. In other words, the panels access the same single XMP record.
Q: Does an info panel template include data from multiple panels or just one?
A: Multiple panels. The template stores all the metadata saved to the image. All panel s save their data to a single XMP record for the image.
Q: Is there a history of all the changes available in case there is a need to revisit an older version (or if someone makes a mistake).
A: No, but it could be. I don’t know of any panels that save previous versions of the metadata. It would be possible to add this feature to a custom panel though.
Q: Can the VRA info panel describe various levels of image creators -- original photographer and then several editors?
A: No, there are not separate image creator fields with roles. The Image Creator is mapped to DC Creator and is stored as a list with each name on a new line so they can be separated easily. For the role you would have to use plain text, e.g., “LastName, FirstName (photographer)” and then use that to map it to specific fields in a database. It would be possible to build a custom panel with structured, multi-creators and roles. The VRA beta panel uses “display values”, but a full VRA Core 4 panel could be built that could handle very complex records.
Q: Is there any kind of "crosswalk" to compare fields in these schemas?
A: Yes, there are several.
Q: What tool did you use to create the PDF panel?
A: Custom panels can only be used in Acrobat Pro which currently uses text-based custom info panels (these are also compatible with CS2 & CS3). Info: XMP Custom File Info for pre-CS4 products (ZIP, 240KB)
Q: What tool did you use to create the CS4 & CS5 panel?
A: Beginning with CS4, the info panels are Flash based and are created with Adobe Flash Builder (free for educational institutions). Info:http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/xmp/pdfs/XMP-FileInfo-SDK-Overview.pdf
Q: Why is there a video and audio panel in Adobe when you are working with images?
A: Bridge can edit metadata in video and audio files. All the panels show up in Photoshop because they are stored in the same place.
Q: If metadata is created using another program such as Excel or an XML editor, can the metadata be imported later into the VRA panel?
A: Yes, using the upcoming VRA import plugin for Bridge.
Q: When an image is uploaded to MDID, is the embedded metadata imported to the database?
A: No. According to Andreas Knab, MDID developer, MDID2 only exports select Dublin Core properties, it doesn’t import any embedded metadata. Andreas also says that MDID neither exports or imports embedded metadata. Any of you MIDID users might want to write to Andreas to tell him you would like that to change!
Q: Is bulk export of metadata possible for ingesting into a content management system?
A: Yes, using the upcoming VRA exporter, EMET (free from ARTstor), or the IPTC-PLUS Bridge plugin.
Q: Is there any integration with content management systems like ContentDM?
A: Yes, for standard properties like IPTC. No for the VRA properties. I don’t know about ContentDM, but some DAMS such as Media Bin and Extensis Portfolio support IPTC. More info: http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/partners.html
Q: Does the # symbol [in the VRA import/export tool] protect other formats (I'm thinking of leading zero's, for example)?"
A: Yes, it would. At this time, only the Image Date field uses the # protection. XMP requires that dates be formatted YYYY-MM-DD, so the # protection is in place to preserve that. If your local database uses a different date format, you will have to convert the date after export or before import. When importing data into images, the date must be YYYY-MM-DD or it will be ignored.
Q: Can you lock the metadata down like in a PDF - not IN PDFs, but LIKE PDFs.
A: Not in image files. It might be possible in PDFs using Acrobat Pro. I’ll have to do more research.
Q: I can see the VRA fields in Bridge over on the right side -- I am a little confused as to why Greg can't?"
A: You must have installed the Bridge files. Greg didn’t have them on his machine.
Q: What data file types will the import tool accept?"
A: It only works with tab-delimited text files. Whatever data format you have needs to be converted to tsv. Excel is the intended editing tool for the import/export data.
Q: How will we transfer the metadata from a TIFF to all the JPEGs we produce.
A: Check your software, Photoshop automatically copies embedded metadata to derivatives, even when batch processing. If your software doesn’t do it automatically, you can extract the data from the TIFFs and import it into the JPEGs using a tool such as the VRA Bridge script.
Q: For those if us who are working more with video, are you thinking about investigating moving image files more?"
A: Yes, I will add video to the project plan.
Resources for the Workshop
You do not have to be logged in to open or download files
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Workshop_files.zip
These will be pre-installed at the Carleton and UMN computer labs, remote participants will need to download them and have them available on their own computers. Feel free to download a copy for future reference.
contents:
- Handouts (prints will be provided for on-site participants)
- Sample Images (used for hands-on exercises)
- Sample PDF (used for hands-on exercises)
- Other Custom Panels (you might like to try these)
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Mac
Windows
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