This workshop explained how metadata, both technical and descriptive, is and can be embedded in these files and how its addition makes them more accessible and usable. If you have a large collection of digital files and are looking for a way to add information about them without a database, using embedded metadata may be for you.
In a hands-on session, we worked with several existing embedded metadata reading and editing tools and introduce the Visual Resources Association's custom XMP File Info panel for Adobe Photoshop and Bridge applications.
more info:
http://serc.carleton.edu/viz/metadata11/embedded_metada.html
78. Bridge Exercise Bridge Metadata panel preferences Do one of the following: click Metadata panel menu -> Preferences click Edit -> Preferences step 4 of 5
79. Bridge Exercise Bridge Metadata panel preferences Select the metadata fields that you want to display -> OK step 5 of 5
80. Exercise Open file “order6545.pdf” in Acrobat Reader right click - Properties File - Properties + d File - Properties step 1 of 1
81.
82. PDF Some free PDF tools allow basic metadata editing
109. Exercise step 3 of 4 Source : Minneapolis College of Art and Design Copyright Status : Public Domain Rights Usage Terms : This image may be freely copied and used for any desired application. Copyright Notice : This image is in the public domain.
Back in the 20 th century, I would have given you a cassette of my favorite songs, which trust me, you would love, but you would have a hard time identifying and finding the songs. And no, I wouldn't ’t take the time to label each cassette with all the songs.
Contrast this to the experience of iTunes, one of the most prevalent examples of embedded metadata. Wouldn't ’t it be great if you could do the same thing with digital image files as they are transferred from one device or application to another? Finding, organizing, making playlists, moving that functionality from desktop to laptop to phone, to iPod, to iPad. You can share files with friends and they can do the same thing. Digital music files have taken the guesswork out of music. Image files and pdf files can and should work the same way. MP3s are able to do this because they have metadata - information about the file and its contents, embedded in the file. the metadata is part of the file, just like the image or text. it travels with the file.
This works well for music files and we are all used to it, and even expect it now. Interestingly, the jpeg album cover image does not have any data. It could have just as much data as the MP3s. It could be just as understandable and discoverable as the MP3s, but it ’s not. Clearly this is unfair to jpegs.
More often than not, all you know about a digital image is its file name and when it was created.
By embedding metadata in the files, images can have the same usability as MP3s, like displaying the Title and tags.
This works in Mac OS too (you are not able to customize the display as much)
First, download all the test files used in this presentation. http://metadatadeluxe.pbworks.com/w/file/46749169/Workshop_files.zip
After installing the test files you will now try searching for a specific image based on it’s embedded metadata. 1. Enter the phrase “find me” in the Windows or Mac file browser search box.
In Windows 7 enter the search at the top right. You should see this result.
In Mac OSX enter the search at the top right. You should see this result.
Windows 7 can display a lot of embedded metadata, but to see it you have to do some work. 1. Expand the metadata pane at the bottom by dragging the border up.
To customize Windows Explorer, start by enabling the main menu. Go to: 1. Organize 2. Folder and search options
Check: “ Always show menus”
Go to: 1. View 2. Choose details…
In Choose details Check the fields you want to see Note: Fields are visible according to file type
To see your chosen fields… Select: Change your vview 2. More options
Select: 2. Details
Now you can see, and sort the embedded metadata.
Windows 7 Choose Right click - Properties
Windows 7 Choose Right click - Properties
Windows 7 To see the large image preview: 1. Click show/hide
Mac Show metadata inspector: command + i NOTE: Spotlight Comments is not recommended - it only works within Mac OS and is not read by other applications
Mac 1. Preview: double click file or Open with – Preview 2. Preview inspector: command + i 3. Quick view: command + i
When you use an image database online, you get the image and the metadata.
However, when the images are removed from the web environment, they loose their identity. Typically, when you download images there is no metadata included – you have to download it separately or, more typically, you go back to the website and copy and paste the data into a Word doc.
Fortunately, the MDID2 database shown earlier embeds some basic metadata on export. To see how this benefits the user, try searching test images folder for the word “pyramids”. Click on each file and use the metadata/inspector panels to view the Title and Tags in each file.
Then search for “civil war”. You should get a different set of images. This demonstrates how allows you to find and identify images when they have been downloaded with embedded metadata.
If the images have rich embedded metadata, you can search for very specific names such as “Fort Richardson”.
Windows 7 allows you to create and edit embedded metadata. Exercise: In metadata pane: click metadata fields. If a white text box appears, you can edit the text. Some fields are not editable. Windows Explorer can edit Title, Tags, Author, Subject writes to Title (why???) is supposed to read from XMP dc:description but doesn't (why???)
Mac OSX can't edit IPTC data . Preview is supposed to edit keywords, but it doesn’t always work, I’m not sure why. 1. click magnifyig glass (Keyword inspector)
For full creation and editing you are better off in one of several dedicated photo applications. This exercise will use Photoshop. 1. open file: EMwg-chicago_picasso
2. go to File - File info... (the file info dialog will open in the foreground) 3. Select the “Description” tab 4. In the “Keywords” field add: "plazas; civic centers"
5. In the “Copyright notice” field add: "Creative Commons Attribution"
6. Click “OK” to save your changes and close the info panel. 7. In Photoshop, save the file. Now go back to the Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder and view the results.
There are several excellent free tools for creating reliable embedded metadata.
How does this work? Digital image formats, such as TIFF, use a set of metadata tags in the file header to tell your system how to interpret and display the image. Some of these tags contain data recorded by cameras and scanners such as date, time, and device settings.
Exchangeable image file format (Exif) is a standard that specifies the formats for images , sound , and ancillary tags used by digital cameras (including smartphones ), scanners and other systems handling image and sound files recorded by digital cameras. Exif was developed by Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) and Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA)
There are also fields for descriptive metadata which allow you to identify what is shown in the image
Embedded metadata was first embraced by news organizations who needed to send photos around the world along with text that positively identified what was in the in a photo. The original method for doing this was very simple - information such as date, caption, location and credit was directly written on or attached to the print and then it was sent over telephone lines on teletype machines (similar to a fax). When the recipient received the photo, the information was right there, they didn ’t have to match a list of captions to several photos that came in that day. When TIFF files replace this format, images could be transferred faster, with higher quality and with some basic embedded text. The metadata was limited, but it got the job done.
IPTC partnered with Adobe to add the IPTC “Information Interchange Model” (IPTC IIM) standard to Photoshop in 1995. After this IPTC IIM became widespread in the press industry, and has increasingly been adopted by professional and amateur photographers alike.
XMP was released by Adobe in 2001. It is more powerful than the previous standard because it uses RDF/XML and standardizes the definition, creation, and processing of extensible metadata . Adobe said “With an XMP-enabled application, information about a project can be captured during the content-creation process and embedded within the file and into a content-management system.”
Like the TIFF standard, XMP is meant to be completely interoperable.
XMP is an open standard - Adobe makes it and several tools that use it available for free.
File formats supported by XMP
The process of embedding the data is handled by your photo editing or organization tool. It converts your text into code and adds it to the file.
XMP metadata is written in RDF/XML and written into the image file.
This exercise demonstrates how XMP metadata is shared among several info panels. The same data values will be seen in the various info panels. Photoshop: 1. open file "EMwg-Schiller-2.jpg" 2. open File info... 3. select the Description tab 4. select IPTC tab 5. select VRA_beta 0985 tab
Partial views of the Description, IPTC and VRA info panels. Notice the same text appears in different fields in each panel. The text is actually only stored in one XMP record and displayed by each panel.
Where XMP lives: There are separate groups of data stored within image files. Within those tags there are other groups of data for specific uses.
Because it ’s a form of RDF, an XMP record can be a mix of various schemas - as long as you follow the specifications of each. This is a very common approach as illustrated by the Metadata Working Group’s recommended mapping which uses properties from four different namespaces.
Mix and match: Dublin Core, photoshop, xmp, and Iptc The Metadata Working Group includes software and hardware makers who work together to use the same XMP properties for metadata to ensure interoperability.
If you want more specialized metadata, you can choose from several XMP schemas built into many applications (and not just Adobe).
Since your embedded metadata will likely be viewed by a variety of applications it is important to understand how existing schemas are used.
For instance, IPTC “Creator” refers to the creator of the photo and is the same as “Artist”, “Author”, and “Photographer”. IPTC “Copyright” refers to the rights of the photo, not an artwork it shows.
To help establish industry-wide standards for embedded image metadata, the Metadata Working Group has published a map that many manufacturers and developers use.
In addition, these groups (and more) adhere to agreed upon use of XMP schemas.
The VRA Embedded Metadata Working Group (EMwg) was formed in 2008 to research data standards and explore the potential implications of embedding metadata using the cultural heritage-focused VRA Core schema, the broadest schema available for addressing the description of both the digital image, or surrogate, and the work it depicts.
Exercise: 1. go to flickr.com/photos/53000293@N03/ (Google search: flickr metadata deluxe) 2. look for the two photos titled “Friedrich Schiller” 3. Open each and notice the difference in Tags (Keywords), Caption 4. view exif data - all VRA data is there but it's hard to find and is not searchable What’s going on: In one photo, only the VRA schema was used. In the other, the VRA fields were concatenated to create a Caption and a set of Keywords that Flickr could see and display.
Flickr Uploadr alows you to enter data before you upload your files to Flickr. However, it does not embed the data, it sends it separately to Flickr. You are better off embedding your data in another application and then uploading them to Flickr. Embed data once and use it many times.
If you have entered a lot of data in Flickr, you can use various tools such as Bulkr to retrieve it as embedded metadata.
The pro version of Bulkr downloads your images embedded with any data you entered in Flickr. This could be used to collect data from users, e.g., class projects, collaborative cataloging.
In Photoshop 1. Open Royal Architectural Museum folder 2. Open file info...
This is a tour of the pop-up info panel dialog: Click on each of the panel tabs along the top Click on the Preferences button Click the downward arrow beside the Import/Export button
In Bridge 1. Open Weitz Center Images folder 2. Open file info...
You can add or edit metadata directly into the Bridge Metadata panel. Open Bridge and navigate to the image(s) file(s) that you wish to work with using the “Folders” tab located on the either side of the “Content” tab in the workspace. Once the images can be viewed in the “Content” tab, select the files that you want to write data to by clicking on them. To select multiple images sequentially, hold down the Shift key and click on the image at the beginning of the sequence using the mouse and then click on the last image in the sequence. To select multiple images randomly use the “Control/Command” key and mouse to click on the desired files. Add or Edit metadata Click the Pencil icon to the far right of the metadata field you want to edit. Type in the box to edit or add metadata. Press Tab to move through metadata fields. When you have finished editing the metadata, click the Apply button at the bottom of the Metadata panel. To cancel any changes you’ve made, click the Cancel button at the bottom of the panel.
1. Click on the VRA Work Site Location field 2. Enter the text “United States” 3. Click on the check mark or click anywhere in the workspace and Save.
Open the PDF file “order6545” View the file properties
Process: 1. Basic accession data recorded on a department wiki. 2. If labeled slides are provided, scans/photos showing the labels and images are made. This is saved as a PDF. 3. Full accession record created in the PDF header using a custom XMP panel in either Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, or Bridge. 4. Completion of production steps are recorded in using the same custom XMP panel in either Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, or Bridge.
Completed accession record info panel.
Hidden data doesn't help the casual user but can be enormously useful to the professional.
XMP for PDF documents has been introduced with Acrobat 5 and PDF 1.4 in 2001. Advantages: PDF files are more compact and require only a fraction of the memory space of respective TIFF files, often with a better quality
Advantages: PDF stores structured objects (e.g. text, vector graphics, raster images), allowing for an efficient full-text search in an entire archive
Advantages: Metadata like title, author, creation date, modification date, subject, keywords, etc. can be embedded in a PDF file PDF files can be automatically classified based on embedded XMP metadata, without requiring human intervention.
All ISO standards for PDF include the use of XMP metadata (even mandatory in most cases except ISO 32000). PDF/A is an ISO Standard for using PDF format for the long-term archiving of electronic documents. In order to create electronic archives, emphasis must be given to the creation of metadata.. PDF/A requires the use of XMP for identifying PDF documents as conforming to PDF/A-1a or 1b.
For more information go to pdfa.org
Hidden data doesn't help the casual user but can be enormously useful to the professional.
The Semantic Web envisions a world of structured data online where computers can understand concepts and use logic to achieve similar results to human brainstorming. This world is one of distributed expertise where authoritative data from many different communities can be combined by computers to be more than the sum of its parts.
To see how a website can extract and display embedded metadata: 1. go to embedmydata.com 2. upload one of the Weitz Center example images
The key to the Semantic Web is RDF, a method that enables machines to combine data files posted by people online and easily understand them and learn new things that no single document contained.
Nikon View NX2 can embed GPS coordinates in images using a Google map search
It can also use those GPS coordinates to query Wikipedia for additional keywords. This allows users to bring in related information they might not have known, such as City, State, Country, affiliated institutions, creators etc.
To make it easy for users to input parsed data, an XMP panel could query a semantic web resource, such as VIAF, and retrieve authoritative database-ready data.
Encode values as linked data URIs that query a central database for the most accurate information possible. You could also embed any level of data that you think will provide a basic description of the content and then take the user to a central source for complete information.
In this exercise you will copy all of the embedded metadata from one image to another. In Adobe Bridge 1. Open the file “EMwg-manuscript1.jpg” 2. Open File - file info…
In this exercise you will copy all of the embedded metadata from one image to another. In Adobe Bridge 1. Open the file “EMwg-manuscript1.jpg” 2. Open File - file info…
1. Create a template of the current data by clicking on the arrow beside the Import/Export button. 2. Choose Export. 3. Name the template 4. Save 5. Close “EMwg-manuscript1.jpg”
Now you will apply the template to another image.
1. Open the file “EMwg-manuscript2.jpg” 2. Open File - file info…
1. Click the arrow beside the Import/Export button 2. Click Import 3. Choose either: Clear existing properties and replace with template properties Keep original metadata, but replace matching properties from template Keep original data, but append matching properties from template
1. Choose a template file 2. Double click or click Open The metadata from the template should now appear in the info panel. You have just copied the data from EMwg-manuscript1.jpg to EMwg-manuscript2.jpg
The data from EMwg-Manuscript-1.jpg should now appear in the info panel for the current image, EMwg-Manuscript-2.jpg.
This exercise demonstrates how you can enter metadata into groups of images using Bridge. In Adobe Bridge: 1. Open the Acropolis folder
2. Select all images (Ctrl+click each thumbnail)
3. In the IPTC Core section, enter this information. 4. click the check mark or click on the workspace and select “Save”
This is what you should see. You have just embedded this information in all four images.
Now you will create a template for the image creator’s contact information. In Adobe Bridge: 1. Select just one image thumbnail. 2. Open File - file info…
3. Click on the IPTC tab 4. Enter this information
Your info panel should look like this.
1. Create a template of the current data by clicking on the arrow beside the Import/Export button. 2. Choose Export. 3. Name the template 4. Save 5. Close the File info dialog.
Now you will apply the creator information to the other three images. 1. Select the three image thumbnails that don’t have the creator information. 2. Open File - file info…
1. Click Import (if you don’t see “Import”, click the arrow beside the Import/Export button 2. Choose: “Clear existing properties and replace with template properties” 3. Select the template you created earlier and double click or click “Open”
You should now see the Creator information. Click “OK” to save and close the Info panel.
EMET is a free tool designed to extract metadata embedded in JPEG and TIFF files. EMET is compatible with Mac OS 10.4+, as well as Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. http://www.artstor.org/global/g-html/download-emet-public.html
IPTC and PLUS have a free plug-in Metadata Panel for Bridge CS3/CS4 for the IPTC Core, IPTC Extension and the PLUS metadata - with a comprehensive User Guide for all fields. This tool also includes an Import/Export tool in the “Extras” section. The Import/Export work with tab-delimited files of all of the IPTC Core, IPTC Extension and the PLUS fields.
Currently in development, the VRA Export-Import plugin for Bridge creates tab-delimited files of all the fields used in the VRA beta 0.9.8.5.2 custom info panel. It allows you to batch export and import XMP metadata.
For more information on XMP, including how to create custom info panels, go to adobe.com/devnet/xmp.html