Authority data, standards, and metadata. Third edition of the FORS-DaSCH webinar series

The third webinar of the FORS-DaSCH series was on Authority data, standards and metadata and took place online on May 28, 2025, and was hosted by Rita Gautschy (DaSCH) and Auriane Marmier (FORS).

Rita Gautschy introduced the use of authority data and standards in the humanities, explaining how they ensure consistency, interoperability, and discoverability across datasets. By assigning unique and standardized identifiers to entities such as persons, places, and works, authority data facilitates metadata linking and prevents ambiguities. Standards such as the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) support structured representation, annotation, and integration of digital materials, thereby enhancing long-term data sustainability and scholarly collaboration.

Auriane Marmier focused on metadata in the social sciences, presenting widely used standards such as the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI). She highlighted the advantages of using DDI for documenting social science data, including products like the DDI Codebook and DDI Lifecycle. The presentation also introduced controlled vocabularies and thesauri (e.g., ISCO, ISCED, ELSST) and explained their role in achieving semantic clarity and interoperability.

The webinar concluded with a brief comparison of metadata practices in the humanities and social sciences, identifying shared challenges and complementary approaches.