Metadata Activism

Metadata 2020 is a collaboration that advocates richer, connected, and reusable, open metadata for all research outputs, which will advance scholarly pursuits for the benefit of society. It accomplishes this goal by organizing into several volunteer groups to address specific metadata challenges.

About the project

Metadata, data that provides information about other data, is not a new concept; the first description of “meta data” for computer systems is purportedly noted by MIT’s Center for International Studies experts David Griffel and Stuart Mcintosh in 1967. [1] Structural metadata has been a part of digital scholarly communication since its start, though it has become increasingly important as the fields of research and scholarship have gotten more granular and their reach have become more global. Metadata 2020 advocates for richer metadata to increase one’s ability to discover research and scholarship and use these resources to help address the world’s biggest challenges.

My role

Starting in early 2019, I served as project coordinator, directing all project efforts.

Key accomplishments:

  • Progressed efforts of the collaboration by directing and organizing nearly 200 volunteers.
  • Drove the completion of several written recommendations and other outputs published in the Metadata 2020 RIO Journal Collection. Authored and/or edited many of the publications.
  • Successfully proposed Metadata 2020 presentations at over 12 conferences, extending the reach of the project’s efforts.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata

  • Project Direction
  • Building Community
  • Volunteer Management
  • Public Speaking and Writing