Metadata – Contents

Databases that are or will be integrated into prometheus should conform to the following metadata conventions.
According to the maxim of prometheus to support a wide range of metadata, only a very limited set of information is mandatory for inclusion (see Mandatory Metadata).

It is recommended that further information on objects be entered and exported. This information can be investigated directly using the detailed search function of prometheus and allows objects relevant to cultural studies to be found adequately in a database (see Optional Metadata).

prometheus can process any additional information on the objects and index them for full-text searches. Within the first zoom level of an image, all data available for the image in prometheus are always displayed (see Optional Metadata).

Mandatory metadata (“mandatory fields”)

Databases integrated in prometheus must provide at least the following information for each image:

Title

A generally approved or descriptive designation specified by the producer, which serves to identify the object.

Picture credits

Source of an image. Especially in the case of scans, the respective source must be named, e.g. as a literature reference with author, title, place, year and page

Image copyright

The image copyrights are separated into the right to the work of art and the right to the photograph. On the one hand, the author of the work is to be named here, on the other hand the author of the reproduction, should legal claims still exist in these cases. If the creator of the work is represented by VG Bild-Kunst, an automatic adjustment is made within prometheus to the specified artist name (see optional metadata). If the author of the work cannot be easily identified (e.g. in the case of scans from book originals), the publisher, institution or copyright society should at least be named. In the case of (institution-) owned slides as templates or copyright relationships that are no longer traceable, the respective institution or the location where the templates are stored should usually be indicated. Also the author of the reproduction must also be named. If you do not know who the photographer of your object is, please provide the picture credits. You can also provide information on the picture credits in addition to naming the photographer. However, at least one indication of the right of exploitation of the reproduction must be provided. If you have taken the photograph of the work yourself, you can, for example, use a CC-license to regulate the further use of a reproduction by third parties.

Image identification note

The unique identification tag of an image to which the specified metadata refers. As a rule, unique file names (or parts of names) or paths must be specified here (e.g. “image_123.jpg”, “123” “archiv/image_123”)

Facultative metadata (“target fields”)

The following fields should also be included, but are not mandatory for cooperation with prometheus:

Artist

Surname, first name (and other names) of the producer or producers of an object. The names should be given in the indicated order, separated by commas or in distinct fields, several persons can be entered separated by semicolons or also in distinct fields (see Mandatory metadata #Picture credits).

Location

Refers to the current location of an object and consists of the three units city, institution (museum, church, building, etc.) and, if applicable, inventory number. These three factors are specified either in three fields or in one field separated by a unique character (e.g. comma). Information such as “missing” should also be recorded in this field.

Discovery place

Original location, place of manufacture or discovery of an object. The information should be structured in the same way as the “location” (see above).

Dating

Time determination of the period of manufacture of the object. It is preferable to specify a number or two years separated by “-”, which is understood as a time interval; textual entries (e.g. early 18th century) should be translated into numerical specifications by the respective database.

Material

Materials from which the object is made. The “technique” can also be specified here according to cultural and historical conventions (e.g. “oil on canvas”).

Class

Term for the “class” of an object. Class designations may be specified by one or more separate terms (e.g. “sculpture”, “architecture”, “painting”, “drawing” or “drawing/floor plan; architecture/floor plan”; “sculpture/capital”).

Optional metadata (“optional fields”)

Any additional metadata can be integrated for each object. Optional metadata are recorded in the full text index. They can be searched using the full text search and displayed with the first zoom. This includes e.g. description, dimensions, subtitles, keywords etc.