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Creating Metada—a Quick Checklist
by Suzanne Mescan
Metadata is your friend.
Too many technical writers consider metadata to be just one more thing they need to worry about. Used poorly, it is. Used well, it is a technical writer's best friend. It can make content more organized and more efficient to search and reuse.
Start by defining what content you have
Define Your Content
The key is to start big and work your way down. Define what type of content you have; then break it down into meaningful and reusable pieces of content. For example:
- Lawn Mower Documentation
a. User Manuals
i. Model numbers
ii. Parts diagrams
iii. Procedures
iv. Cautions and warnings
b. Parts Catalogs
i. Part numbers
ii. Parts diagrams
iii. Assembly instructions
iv. Model numbers
Organize Your Content
Defining your content allows you to see your content reuse potential and to better organize your content. In this example, you may want to consider storing your parts diagrams and model numbers as a separate collection of content since they are used in both the user manuals and parts catalogs:
Parts diagrams | Model numbers |
Graphic 1 | Model A |
Graphic 2 | Model B |
Graphic 3 | Model C |
Then this content can be stored one time, located easily for reuse, and managed for future updates and revisions. Remember to organize your content in the way in which is it reused, not the way in which it is published!
Apply Useful Metadata
Consider the following:
- How will you want to search for this content? By author? By model number? By the size of the engine? By the date it was written? Make sure key search criteria are included in the metadata.
- How does each piece of content relate to other content? If you change one piece, what else will need to be updated? Such relationships can be expressed in the content's metadata.
- Do you need to process or calculate on this content? Maybe it is useful for your department to be able to count all of the part descriptions that go into a given manual. Add that number to the metadata ("part description = 12").
- What tool should your technical writers use to edit the content: FrameMaker or MSWord? What will the output be: Print, PDF and/or HTML? Clearly identify input and output in the metadata so there are no questions.
Tips
- Use naming conventions consistently! For example, use "Model number, retired" instead of "Retired model number" for better sorting and easier searching.
- Use metadata in a way that is useful for your department, not the organization next door.
- Make sure that everyone in the department is educated on and thoroughly understands your naming convention and metadata protocol.
Is it worth it to bring in an outside consultant?
For many companies, yes it is. They find it very useful to have an outside expert opinion assist in strategy development. However, it is also possible to create your metadata strategy on your own if you do some research on how your content is used by your team and plan accordingly.
Suzanne Mescan
Suzanne Mescan, Vice President of Marketing for Vasont Systems, is responsible for the Company's overall marketing and public relations efforts. Suzanne most recently served as the Vice President and General Manager of Progressive Publishing Alternatives, a sister division of Vasont Systems offering project management, editorial and design services. Prior to joining Vasont Systems, Suzanne was a Marketing Analyst at Advanta. In this role, she was responsible for product planning, advertising, and the promoting of financial services. Suzanne earned a bachelor's of science degree in Marketing from The Pennsylvania State University.
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