# (1) Metadata
###### tags: `session-3-chunkified`

## Basics of metadata

* To become data detectives, we have to be readers—and writers—of metadata.
* Metadata provide information about data. Recording information about datasets is as important as the dataset itself. Metadata helps answer questions such as
* Who collected the data?
* For what purpose?
* What methods were used?
* When did they collect the data, and when was the data last updated?
* How was the project funded?
* This information is vital for learning how we can and cannot use a given dataset and helps users understand what biases might live behind the data.

## Where to find metadata

* **If it exists,** metadata will often be on the page where you downloaded the dataset or in a separate textfile that you get when you download the dataset itself.
* If you are making your own dataset, it is your resposibility to create and share the metadata with others! Be sure to give context to your created data so that others may use it with the correct intentions. Feel free to explore this LMEC resource on [data documentation ](https://geoservices.leventhalmap.org/cartinal/guides/readme-instructions.html#general-information)

</hideable>

## Metadata on the LMEC Public Data Portal
* The LMEC Public Data Portal has a variety of unique metadata available which we will walk through the various sections below using the Internet Access dataset as an example.

#### "About this data"

* The "About this data" section of the page includes an overview of where the data comes from, what information it contains, and who can access it.


* This information is what you might find on any standard data portal. However, the LMEC portal also offers more comprehensive and critical metadata to consider.

#### "Can You Trust This Data?""

* This section shows an evaluation of the dataset *and its metadata* by LMEC Data Archivist Belle Lipton.


* These evaluations aim to understand the value and limitations of the datsets that live on the portal, asking questions such as:
* Will using this dataset cause harm to those it is mapping?
* What is the intent behind the datasets?
* It is a unique feature of the LMEC Public Data Portal; it's not a section you'll see consistently on sites that provide datasets.
* Data documentation is increasingly important to understand where the data is coming from.

### The data lifecycle
* The data lifecycle describes the various human actions that affected and contintue to affect the dataset.
* Some of these actions involve creating, cleaning, and maintaining.
* Here you can even find a record of the decisions made by the data creator, Daniel Huffman, along with how often the data is updated.
* Data is constantly being shaped by the people who work with it and by the judgements they make regarding the datasets. Providing transparent details cartographic choices enables users to make informed choices about the data they are using and one should always seek to locate this information about the datasets they are working with.
* This section is also unique to the LMEC Public Data Portal; often, this informatoin is part of the metadata of a dataset, but is not organized in this way.

### Data transparency

* Data transparency applies not only to maps—"where does the data on that map come from"—but also to the data itself.
* Both data and metadata needs to be looked at through the lense of transparency!
* As critical viewers of data you should begin to prioritize and value ethical data transparency in order to make fair choies about what can and cannot be said from a given dataset.

## Check for Understanding
##### Wicked Free Wi-Fi, a dataset from the City of Boston on Public Wifi Spots

<Quizlet
title="Check your understanding"
:questions="[
{text: 'Considering the dataset above, what metadata not present would make the dataset more transparent?. Choose all that apply',
answers: [
{text: 'The timeframe in which the data was collected'},
{text: 'How the cartographer worked with teh data', correct: true}
{text: The name of the dataset},
{text: Forseen limitations of using the datset, correct: true}
]},

{text: 'Once collected, data is not altered by humans in any form.',
answers: [
{text: 'True'},
{text: 'False',correct: true}
]
}
{text: 'In mapping internet access in Boston, which of the following does the metadata help you understand',
answers: [
{text: 'Which organization collected this data',correct:true},
{text: 'Internet Access in souther Massachusetts'}
{text: 'The quality of the WiFi offered'}
]
}
]"
/>