5.7.7 Metadata and Field Tools

5.7.7.1 Field recordings exist in relation to each other and to other events, objects and information. Developments in the research communities are leading towards integrated data and metadata acquisition tools which document and relate different objects and the times and place in which they were created.Various international projects meanwhile have created tools that meet the requirements of specific metadata schemes. Such tools offer a relatively complete metadata collection and make transfer to established database systems easier and ensure accurate data for future researchers. At the time of writing such tools and concepts are in an early stage of development, they also tend to contain data that is discipline specific and so are not discussed here, however, it is important that all the technical data described above is acquired for populating future management and access systems. All data acquired should have in mind the transfer compatibility to the final archiving system. Until standards come into being, use of UNICODE characters and XML format is recommended.

5.7.7.2 If metadata is collected manually, without using acquisition tools as mentioned above, it is recommended to use a format that can easily be transferred to usual database structures. Alternatively, institutes and archives sometimes provide their individual tools and if possible these should be used in the field.