Introduction to Metadata

"Metadata" has existed for years but is still not clearly understood and often unused. But given technical communication's direction, metadata's importance is growing. Metadata is easy to define. (The complexity lies in the details and implementation.) The simplest type of metadata is the once common pull-out card drawers in libraries. Need a call number for the novel Ringworld? Pull out the R title card drawer, find "Ringworld", and note its number. Can't remember the book's name but you know Larry Niven wrote it... pull out the N author card drawer, find ''Niven, Larry", and note the number. The cards, now replaced by online versions, contain information - book name, author name, etc. - that help us find information - in this case, a book. That's the gist of metadata - information that helps us find, process, or manage other information. This paper summarizes metadata. The conference presentation will go into more detail