Encoded Description: Standards of Information for Machines and People
Module created by Chelsea Gunn and Jane Thaler from the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh
We rely upon communicating with one another to share information, express wants and needs, develop relationships, etc. To do so, we encode information into a transmissible form, then transfer it to a receiver who can decode the information.
In this module, we examine standards for encoding information when communicating with computers. We will work with a format of encoding descriptive information used particularly by archivists known as Finding Aids, written using Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and eXtensible markup language (XML). Through this very specific format that is designed to allow for structured cross-platform transfer in archival description, we will explore how standards can be limiting (often productively, but sometimes less so), and how they often work together for machine and human use.
WATCH
Video coming soon!
DO
This exercise will ask you to create an archival collection resource using a tool called ArchivesSpace, then examine that document in its EAD-XML form.
To complete this exercise, you will need a computer with internet access and a text editor. The exercise should take about 15 minutes to complete.
Exercise Download
EXPLORE
Investigate Validity
- Upload an EAD-XML document from the Library of Congress to XMLvalidation.com and check the results.
- If you see an error, investigate it. What does it mean and what might such an error impact?
- Open the same document in your text editor and mess with it! Delete or add characters to different parts of the document.
- Re-upload XMLvalidation.com. What changed? What does it mean and what might such an error impact?
Compare Standards
Take some time to explore the differences between standards or how standards might be used together. Ask yourself what some of the benefits and uses of each type might be and whether they seem to be for machines, humans, or both.
Structural Standards
- HTML
- EAD (XML)
- JSON (XML)
- CSV – Select and download any of the CSV files from the WPRDC
Content Standards
GUIDING REALIZATIONS
- We use a variety of standards to be able to communicate to ensure comprehension and encourage understanding. These rules can be implicit, explicit, rigid, or flexible and are context-dependent.
- Much of the human-readable information “means” nothing to the machines upon which we manipulate it. We have to tell the machines what the information means and what to do with it using computer language standards.