Appendix 2: Explanatory notes for Album Spreadsheet

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[edit] 1 Appendix 2: Explanatory notes for Album Spreadsheet

Below is a breakdown of the metadata we use for an OU iTunes U album. The top part of the spreadsheet includes all of the metadata required for the overall album. The metadata in the lower part of the spreadsheet relates to individual album tracks.

All of the sections on the spreadsheet are colour-coded so it’s immediately clear who is responsible for completing the metadata (e.g. all of the pink sections on our spreadsheet would be completed by the producer responsible for the album, all of the yellow sections by the media assistant, purple to be completed by the video editor, etc)

[edit] 1.1 Album Metadata

Album title – this is usually the name of the course from which the assets came.

Course code – e.g. S103 (Science, 1st level, 3rd presentation)

Sources for edit – library tape numbers used for edit

iTunes U or YouTube – the default selection for our project would always be iTunes U, but the form has been designed so it can also be used for YouTube

Unique album identifier code – every individual album on iTunes U must have a unique identifying code. At the OU this is derived from the original course code, and number of albums for that course (e.g. TA212.01 or TA212.02)

Album art ideas – when the producer (internal or external) is working on the production of an album, they will become familiar with the content, so would be best placed to make suggestions as to suitable artwork for the album. These suggestions are then picked up by the media assistant who will further research these ideas using image libraries to which the OU subscribes, and provide a number of options for KMi to choose from.

Album key words – these are key words relating to the overall album (not individual assets). They will be used by Apple to enable users of iTunes to search the site.

iTunes explicit? – if any of the material within an album is of a contentious nature or explicit in any way this needs to be flagged with iTunes and given an ‘explicit tag’. This will enable Apple to limit access to the individual files (e.g. where users of the site have parental control systems in place).

Feed name – "E112 Introduction to sport, fitness and management" feed name is… "e112-sportfitness-management" – all lower case, no spaces or special characters, replace spaces with hyphen, first word should be course code (if applicable), rest of name should reflect podcast title, though shortened.

iTunes U category code – this defines topic areas.

Album art source and copyright info – the Media Assistant will add details of the album art they have sourced (e.g. library details, image reference numbers, any acknowledgements or payments required).

iTunes U topic/category – this is a category/code provided by Apple.

iTunes U links – URLs to relevant websites required at album level (e.g. OU courses and qualifications website, or individual faculty website)

Web URL – this is the URL assigned to the individual album (formula based on course code – as advised by KMi).

Transcripts converted/comments – the Media Assistant would initial and date this section once all transcripts for the album have been checked and converted to PDF, and also make a note if there are any anomalies (e.g. no transcript for a music track)

The remaining sections in the top part of the spreadsheet contain names and contact details of the various people involved in the album production (producer, video editor, rights advisor, media assistant, LTS producer).

[edit] 1.2 Track Metadata

All of the information in the lower part of the spreadsheet relates specifically to the individual tracks which form the album. Almost all of this information is provided by the video editor and album producer.

Track – this is the track number and will always start at Track 1 UNLESS these tracks are new additions to an existing album.

File name – name of individual track, should be kept as simple as possible, indicating course and topic e.g. SD805Addiction1, S204Flight1.

Media type – video, audio, transcript, other (e.g. album may include a written unit or chapter from the original course).

Aspect ratio – for video only – indicates widescreen or 4x3 aspect ratio.

Duration – overall duration of individual track.

Frame grabs – indicate where framegrabs have been produced for potential use as album artwork (e.g. where a subject might be difficult to illustrate using library photographs).

Title – a short interesting title which makes the content clear. Titles for YouTube can be ‘funkier’ than those for iTunes U.

Track description – a short description of the content of the track.

Key words for track – these key words are specific to the track, and in addition to those already suggested for the album.

Archive details – here we’d include details of any non-OU copyright material. Info needed: brief shot/audio clip description, duration, copyright holder. If lots of material is used, give brief details and refer rights to the original post-production documentation.

Music details – include music details as identified in the original post production documentation/music reporting form. Duration and copyright owner required.

iTunes explicit? – in addition to flagging this in the top ‘album’ section, it’s important to include an ‘explicit’ tag for the individual track if controversial or explicit content is included.

Other rights issues – add any issues that are not covered in archive or music, or where credits are required.

Rights approved – this column will be completed by OU Rights and will include the initials of the rights advisor and the date approved. The album cannot be uploaded until this section has been completed.

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