Why metadata is meta important.
First off, “what is metadata?” This is a question that I only learned the answer to a few weeks ago. In fact, it’s a question that I’ve never even asked myself until a few weeks ago, before then I had never even heard the term: metadata. Simply put, metadata is data about data. You know that info that pops up on your screen when schuffling through your music, such as: the artist, the album, or the release date? That’s metadata, and the purpose of this article is to show you how using something as simple as metadata, can help create an immersive experience for your audience.
In order to demonstrate this, I am going to walk you through my process of creating a digital audiobook, and how I used metadata to improve the way audiobooks are presented. So before I begin here are a few key points that I will be covering through out the article:
- My audiobook selection, and why I chose it.
- My changes, and reasoning behind it.
- Testing my work on multiple devices.
My Audiobook Selection
For my audiobook selection I decided upon the ever popular and New York Times bestseller, “The Martian.” The Sci-fi thriller is about astronaut Mark Watney, who is left stranded on Mars, after his crewmates mistake him for dead and leave him behind. In the face of overwhelming odds, Watney must, (as he puts it ) “science the shit out of this.” to survive.
I decided on this book after making a trip to my local library (yes those still exist) and looking through my options there, most of the audiobooks I had never heard of, but one in particular caught my eye, “The Martian”. I loved the movie rendition with Matt Damon, and have always had a fascination with space travel and astronomy, I also figured that I could come up with some really cool imagery and facts to include in my final product. Times they are a changing
Implementation
I decided that the first thing that had to go was the cover art, don’t get me wrong the cover art they had before (see image above) wasn’t all that bad, I’ve seen worse, however, I thought it didn’t really capture the true essence of the book very well. That feeling of being completely and entirely alone, so I really wanted to capture that in my cover art.
To the left you can see my initial sketches and ideas for my cover art, as you can see I tried to keep with the same general theme of feeling stranded and alone. I tried to capture that feeling through the character’s eyes, by offering the audience a visual representation of what he would see.
For my final product I ended using several of my sketch ideas, and combining them into one. I used the Martian landscape reflecting from his helmet and a gradual gradient to give off a glow as if you were really on Mars. I decided to go with flat art because I felt it offered an updated and modern look to the older version. As to my font selection, I wanted something thin and clean, but I also wanted the letters to be spaced far apart from each-other, representing the distance Mark Watney was from home. From my intial cover art to my final product I made a few changes, I cut out a few pieces on his chest plate to make room for the Author’s name, I did this so that there would be no interference when reading it, I also added the Narrator’s name: R.C. Bray to the cover as he also plays a large role in immersive experience.
As with most audiobooks the chapter art with the original audio tracks was the same as the origianl cover art, for my project I wanted to take it a step further, expand the experience. So instead of going by chapter, (26 chapters would make for a lot of renditions)I split my audiobook up into nine different, sections, each one equal in length running about an hour long. I felt like this was good amount of time for people who may not have all day to listen. For each section I labled it accourding to the sol that Mark Watney was currently on within the book.
My early renditions for my chapter art (see above) played off of my cover, using the Martian landscape again, and using the text to symbolize the sun coming and going and marking another sol gone by. However, I felt like I could do better, so I threw out my earlier renditinos and I came up with something completely new. I went back to my cover art and tried to stay true to my mirroring effect with his helmet, but make it different at the same time. So to create a more immersive experience, I left a subtle hint of what happens in each section, such as his potato farm in Sol 40, or the not so subtle breach in Sol 120. The whole idea behind these changes was to make it so that the chapter art could be fun and engaging, and something the listener could look forward to each time they reached the next section.
Rember when I told you that this article was supposed to be about metadata? Well buckle up, because here we go. When considering how I could make metadata fun and engaging, I thought to myslef what can I do that is different from what has been done before? Because when was the last time you read some metadata that made you say “woo-hoo”?
I decided to keep my initial metadata pretty tame, including: theTitle, Author, genre and so forth, placing them where I did (see image below) accourding to how they would display on my devices. My descriptions on the other hand, I thought I could have a little more fun with. Instead of offering a standard brief overview of what the chapter/section was about, (you’ll find out when you listen to it anyway) I decided to take what was in that chapter and compare it to what NASA had to say about the issue. The author Andy Weir put a lot of time into researching the science behind his novel, but I wanted to put it to the test. So for each chapter/section under the description tab you’ll find a little fun fact, reviewing the science behind “The Martian.”
Lets Test it
Once I had my metadata lined up just how I wanted it, it was time to test it. This is where I ran into problems, when I wanted to review my audiobook on my different devices I needed a way to transfer the files. Seems simple enough, however, when I attempted to do so I was left with two options:
- one very large, nearly eleven hour file, where I could skip to the next track and update my chapter art, however I could not view or edit any of the metadata I entered into each section’s description.
2. Or nine individual files, apparantly iTunes does not allow the transfer of audiobook playlists, I could transfer the files, but they would come across individually instead of collectively, so while I could keep my metadata descriptions and updated chapter art, but I would lose my cover art.
I was left with a decision to make, sacrifice my metadata or my cover art? Ultimately I chose to go with the latter, while I loved my cover art I felt like I was able to capture the essence of the book with it, I felt like my chapter art would be able to offer the same effect plus the added features of my metadata. I also did this in high hopes that future versions of iTunes will allow the transfer of audiobook playlists and not just files.
When it came to testing I chose to do so on several devices, I chose the two most common iOS (iphone 8), and my Android phone(samsung galaxy j7), as well as the display on my car’s audio screen. The iOS transfer went much smoother than the other two, (which should come as no surprise seeing as how iTunes and the iPhone are both owned by Apple). All I had to do was plug the iPhone into my mac and transfer the files right over, the metadata also showed up just how I intended, with the chapter title coming first, the title of the book and author just below, and it also offered me the ability to switch between the different sections. The Android device took a little more thought, What I ended up doing was uploading my files to my google drive and then downloading them from the drive to my phone. The metadata for my android device came out much different listing the book title twice, and listing the narrator ahead of the author.
The audio screen in the car also displayed nicely, offering the most important metadata upfront with the chapter, author, and book title just as I hoped it would.
Conclusion
In conclusion, metadata may seem like something insignificant but in it lies a greater lesson, potential. What I gained from this project goes far beyond just metadata, it goes into anything we do. Especially with product design and digital media, we should look to push the boundaries, and not be afraid to break free from what has been done and ask ourselves if there isn’t a better way to do it.
