Metadata
Metadata is a structured information record about a book, document, website or other information resource, that makes it easier to find, use or manage the resource.
Clear as mud?
Imagine a book has been placed in a box and the lid closed and locked. The guy who has the key is away from his desk a lot (the line-up at the local Starbucks is often very long). This means that you don’t want to track him down and ask for the key unless you are sure which box you want opened.
Fortunately, the person who put the book in the box also put a bunch of labels on the lid, things like; who wrote the book, what it’s about, the related time periods and geographic areas, and the language the book was written in. That way, you know what’s in the box without getting the guy to open it.
Hello, Metadata!!
This process can be applied to books in a library collection, electronic documents in a database or websites on the internet.
Metadata can help you know where information is stored and the format it is stored in, who can access the information and for how long, and what the information actually is about and whether it is relevant to your needs. It is also one of the primary methods of making data searches and internet search engines efficient and effective.
Any collection of information resources will benefit from the use of metadata.
Let Black Cat Indexing help you optimize the management of your information resources using metadata.