Adopting Goddard Core
During the first partnership from 2003-2004, the primary
members of the Mercury Project digitization effort decided upon using
Dublin Core as the main metadata scheme. Dublin Core was chosen
because of its use by multiple institutions in both museum and library
circles. Research further revealed that Dublin Core was being heralded
as part of the discipline’s best practices. Dublin Core was subsequently
agreed upon as the basis for the Swigert documents as it “represents
the lowest common denominator for creating metadata to facilitate
maximum accessibility across a broad spectrum of institution types”
(North Carolina ECHO, 2009).
During the course of the digitization process and the initial
testing of the images put into CONTENTdm, it was discovered that
simple, unqualified Dublin Core would be insufficient for our needs. A
thorough cataloging of each document was considered ideal;
unfortunately, many of the documents proved to be extremely
complex in terms of both intellectual content and physical context.
The interplay of content and context also added to the meaning of
each document. For example, many of the documents were bound
together in sets arranged in numerical order that refer to specific
symptoms of the spacecraft’s malfunction procedures. The Electrical
Power Subsystem (EPS) malfunction procedures show what should
appear in the gauges on the Apollo Spacecraft’s control panel
indicating to an astronaut whether the power systems are normal or
abnormal.
Adding to the complexity of these documents are notes, drawings,
and comments written on the blueprints and proofs; there are also
papers and redrawn diagrams attached to them that cover over the
original base. Furthermore, the documents are often signed and dated
by various people, including Swigert and other engineers involved
with reviewing the Malfunction Procedures. The circumstances in
which the documents were drafted or marked also add to the
complexity of their meaning. These were some of the documents used
in the AS-204 (Apollo 1) investigation held between January 27th and
March 21st, 1967, revealing the review process for the Block I and
Block II spacecraft.
Given complexities such as multiple dates, authors and uses, it
was deemed that a basic Dublin Core scheme would not be sufficient.