Editing collection metadata

Metadata is basic information about a digital file embedded in the file structure. Because metadata appears in the user interface, and because most users use search to find content, you need to be thorough and precise when entering your metadata. Metadata tells users what your content is about, so it typically includes the collection title, author (for example, instructor or lecturer name), historical background, and so on.

If you update a collection (for example, you add or remove an item, update a category, or edit a feed), you do not need to publish your site for the changes to appear in iTunes U in the iTunes Store. Changes not requiring you to publish your site can take up to 24 hours to appear in the iTunes Store (provider-hosted content can take up to 48 hours). To force an update sooner, click the Refresh button in the Actions button bar in the collections manager.

To edit collection metadata:

1. Click Collections at the top of iTunes U Public Site Manager.

2. Click Apple Hosted in the Feed column for the Apple-hosted feed you want to edit.

   As a contributor, click Edit Feed in the Title column for the Apple-hosted feed you want to edit.

3. Click Channel.

4. Edit the channel fields for your feed:

   Use this	To	Feed element name	Where iTunes Store displays content
   Title	Specify a descriptive title for the content in the collection. For example, the title of the lecture series, course, or chapter. The title you give a collection can be critical to its success. An intriguing title can make your collection stand out from similar collections offered by other institutions. A clear title instantly communicates its relevance to time-pressed learners. A provocative title can arouse interest in casual passersby. The best collection titles are specific and easy to understand. Titles that are vague or generic are less likely to attract subscribers, no matter how compelling the content. A collection called “Lecture Series” is easy to ignore, while “Lectures from Technology Innovators” is anything but. If the collection is a college course, use the entire name instead of just the course abbreviation. Users are less likely to click “Bio 101” than they are “Bio 101: An Introduction to Biology.” Remember that prospective subscribers often see your collection title while scanning. Overly clever titles that don’t describe the content are likely to be ignored by users. Keep a close eye on the user interface for iPod and iPhone mobile devices — you’ll want to be sure that enough of the title shows when the collection is being played. Put important information at the beginning, because long titles will likely not appear in full.	channel <title>	Collection page and Album column
   Author	Specify the name of the content creator. For example, Professor John Smith or School of Business. Click “Use channel author as author for all items” to specify you want to use the channel’s author for the author of each item in the collection.	channel <itunes:author>	Collection page
   Language	Specify the content’s language. Language content is recorded in; accepted values are those in the ISO 639-1 Alpha-2 list (two-letter language codes, some with possible modifiers, such as “en-us”)	channel <language>	Collection page
   Advisory Label	Specify an advisory label for the collection. Choose one of the following to indicate whether or not your content contains explicit material: Unset. Indicates that the collection’s explicitness is unknown. iTunes U does not apply an advisory setting to the collection. Do Not Mark. Indicates that the collection’s content is not explicit. iTunes U applies the setting, but does not display an advisory graphic for the collection. Apple recommends that you choose Do Not Mark when a collection is not explicit but should not have the Clean icon advisory graphic because the collection does not contain an alternate version of content from an explicit collection (Mark Explicit). Choose Do Not Mark to implicitly indicate a collection is clean. Mark Explicit. Indicates that the collection is known to contain explicit content and you want iTunes U to apply an “explicit” setting to the collection. iTunes U applies the setting and displays the Explicit icon advisory graphic for the collection. Mark Clean. Indicates that the collection is known to be free of explicit content and you want iTunes U to apply a “clean” setting to the collection. iTunes U applies the setting and displays the Clean icon advisory graphic for the collection. Apple recommends that you choose Mark Clean only if the collection contains an alternate version of content from an explicit collection (Mark Explicit).	channel <itunes:explicit>	Collection page
   Is Complete	Specify whether or not you intend to add additional content to the collection.	channel <itunes:complete>	Collection page
   Subtitle	Specify a short description for the collection, introducing the collection to your users and describing the purpose, content, and so on. iTunes U does not support any HTML in descriptions.	channel <itunes:subtitle>	iTunes U library, Description column
   Summary	Specify a full, detailed description for the collection. Include a description of what the content is and why a user should download it. iTunes U does not support any HTML in descriptions.	channel <itunes:summary> or <description>	Information window (iTunes U library, Description column, Information button)
   Copyright	Specify copyright information for the collection.	channel <copyright>	N/A
   Keywords	Specify 12 words users can use to search for your content. For example, you can specify common title misspellings.	channel <itunes:keywords>	N/A, but users can search using keywords

5. Click Save.

Note: iTunes U Public Site Manager also displays the collection’s handle (an internal set of numbers that uniquely identifies the collection).

Related Topics

• “About the feed editor”

• “Uploading collection artwork”

• “Creating a feed”

• “Editing item metadata”