Sydney - Metadata and Databases

    Chapters 4 and 5 made me realize how much behind-the-scenes work goes into setting up a digital project. Before reading this, I knew metadata was "data about data" from my previous GIS class that I've taken. I did not realize how important it is for making archives searchable and easy to use. Metadata tells you who made the object, when it was created, where it came from, and what it connects to. At the same time, markup (like TEI-XML) tags parts of a text so a computer can process it. Together, they turn random digitized pages into something you can actually study. 

    On the Emily Dickinson Archive, metadata is doing a ton of heavy lifting. Since these physical letters and scraps existed long before the site was built, the metadata has to track their physical history (paper type, ink, recipient) alongside their digital details (file format, library source).

    When you click on a poem, the sidebar gives you structured metadata, showing which library holds the original (like Harvard or Amherst), who she wrote it to, first lines, and edition numbers. That's what lets you search and filter through her work across different libraries without getting lost.

    Even though the site looks simple, there’s a whole database running behind it. Computers can’t read 19th-century handwriting or figure out her unique page layouts on their own. The team used TEI-XML markup to tag her poems, connecting the raw handwriting scans to typed transcriptions, alternate word choices in her margins, and dictionary definitions. The database links all these pieces, connecting a scan to its library, date, writing surface, and typed text.

    Having read this gives me a much larger appreciation for how much work went into the archive. It gives Dickinson's poems and work that have been scattered across the country a whole new life online.