Complexities in Creating and Defining Topical Metadata Practices for a World-Historical Data Resource

The Collaborative for Historical Information and Analysis (CHIA), a large-scale digital humanities project, aims to link world-historical data in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities; allow researchers to draw new connections and new conclusions from analyzing large-scale aggregated datasets; and provide for the long-term preservation of historical data. To accomplish these tasks, CHIA requires a coherent metadata framework to link data to their sources and each other (CHIA, NSF Grant Proposal). Work on geospatial gazetteers and temporal ontologies has already begun; however, in order to ensure the longevity of CHIA data, allow users to understand and access the data, and publish datasets for future use, defining a controlled vocabulary of topical metadata for CHIA’s data is vital. This research aims to define topical metadata practices for CHIA through the creation and definition of a controlled vocabulary that will add value to CHIA data and allow for future growth and change.