- What is metadata?
- What has metadata got to do with metaanalysis?
- How can I contribute data or metadata?
- The information for my dataset is incorrect - what can I do?
- Can I add more metadata?
- How do I download a full dataset?
- Help - I can't open the file
- How do I acknowledge use of this service?
- I have another question
What is metadata?
Metadata is data that describes the data. It describes the "higher level
information that describe the content, quality, structure, and accessibility
of a specific data set". In short it describes every facet of the data and
facilitates ease of use. For a detailed discussion of ecological metadata
see:
- Ecological Metadata, by W.K. Michener [pdf]
- Michener, W. K., J. W. Brunt, J. Helly, T. B. Kirchner, and S. G. Stafford. 1997. Non-geospatial metadata for the ecological sciences. Ecological Applications 7:330-342 [pdf]
- Introduction to Ecological Metadata (KNB Whitepaper)
What has metadata got to do with meta-analysis?
If meta-analyses are analyses of analyses, then metadata is data about data
(see #1)
How can I contribute data or metadata?
You can contribute data or metadata in one of two ways. 1) You can fill
in the form and email/post it to us for us to enter the data or… 2) You
can use the Morpho client which you can obtain from the KNB
website. This software guides you through the data entry process required
to describe your dataset and will then upload it to the server for you.
This method requires that you register with KNB as a user. NB: Before connecting
to our server you must tell Morpho where to connect to. To do this click
File>Set Preferences and change the Metacat URL to "http://www.imperial.ac.uk/litsproject/metacat/"
The information displayed for my dataset is incorrect - what can
I do?
Let us know as soon as possible and we will correct the information.
Can I add more metadata?
The information stored is easily updated using Morpho or you may contact
us to do it for you.
How do I download a full dataset?
A list of full datasets that we hold on our server is available here. Follow
the link to the data description page. Then right-click and select "save-as"
to download.
I can't open the file?
The full datasets are currently stored as Microsoft Access 2000 files. If
you require files in another version of Access, or in another format entirely,
let us know and we'll see what we can do.
How do I acknowledge use of this service?
For use of the datasets provided, you should consider whether authorship
might be appropriate for the data owner/steward. We would encourage you
to discuss the use of the data with the owners wherever possible. We would
be interested to hear about any publications generated or facilitated using
these datasets and we will post a very brief synopsis of any analyses that
are underway in order to prevent replication. To acknowledge the facility
something along the lines of "We acknowledge the use of the LITS project
database in our search for the datasets used in this study" would be fine.
I have another question
For any other questions/problems please contact Owen Jones by email (owen.jones@imperial.ac.uk)
or telephone (+44(0)20 759 42489)
This page was last updated on September 27, 2006 13:28 by Owen Jones