Re: who,s_who

[Shawn Callahan <cfa@ozemail.com.au>]

Jim

>From the work we have done having multiple levels of detail is essential.
The main question you have to ask is what will the metadata be used for.  If
it is primarily used for finding relevant datasets Page 0 information is
usually enough.  It is when you need to interpret the dataset in an analysis
that Pages 1 and 2 come into play.  I'm an advocate for having less metadata
until it is obviuos more is needed.  I'm sure in many cases we have
collected metadata that will never be used.

We have also found that contact information is more important when there is
actually someone who knows something about the dataset. The metadata user
can contact this person direct and ask questions like "I'm doing a xyz study
do you think your dataset is relevant?"  Sure the contact person may get
innudated with calls at first but this gives you the information on what to
include in the dataset description.

Just a couple of ideas you probably have already covered.

Regards

Shawn Callahan
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Shawn Callahan                             SMS Consulting Group
cfa@ozemail.com.au                Level 11, Advance Bank Centre
Phone +61 6 243 4832                    60 Marcus Clarke Street
fax   +61 6 243 5183                        Canberra  ACT  2601
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