Metadata Notes

"Metadata" is one of those wonderfully wonkish terms that seems to seep into general use. Adding the prefix "meta" meaning referring to or about something, to "data" gives us a term for data that describes other data. The primary form of metadata here at Detention Ministry News are what Blogger calls labels, which could just as easily be called categories or tags. This note outlines the metadata scheme (if not schemata) for the items on this site.

This scheme uses what is called faceted classification, which means that there are a number of facets or aspects of each post, with a set vocabulary of labels for each facet. Some posts have one, more, or no labels for each facet. This approach helps with differing kinds of search, and also with organizing posts for feeds.

Here is a list of facets, with a name, a brief description, and in parenthesis whether or some posts will have labels for this facet:

Type -- what kind of post it is (all)

• article
• newsbrief
• note
• opinion
• info
• blognews

There will be a separate info post on type.

Location -- state or country of corrections system (some)

Faith Community (some)

• christian, with an additional label for major group -- orthodox, protestant, catholic
• jewish
• muslim
• native american
• buddhist
• hindu
• whatever else . . .

Facility type (some)

• jail
• prison
• juvenile

Issue (some)

• free exercise
• death penalty
• violence
• sexual abuse
• sex offender
• overcrowding
• and so many more . . .

I will be going through the existing posts to bring them into line on this. Better now, as the posts are piling up.