Identifying Metadata Quality Issues Across Cultures

Abstract

Metadata are crucial for discovery and access by providing contextual, technical, and administrative information in a standard form. Yet metadata are also sites of tension between sociocultural representations, resource constraints, and standardized systems. Formal and informal interventions may be interpreted as quality issues, political acts to assert identity, or strategic choices to maximize visibility. In this context, we sought to understand how metadata quality, consistency, and completeness impact individuals and communities. Reviewing a sample of records, we identified and classified issues stemming from how metadata and communities press up against each other to intentionally reflect (or not) cultural meanings.