What Is Metadata: Definition, Examples, and Types
Meta is a prefix that, in most information technology usages, means “an underlining definition or description.” Metadata is a summary of basic data that can be used to make it easier for users to locate, reuse, and use particular instances of data.
Some basic metadata for document files includes author, date created, modified, and file size. It is much easier to find a specific document if you can search for it (or any other elements).
Metadata is also used in document files.
- computer files
- images
- relational databases
- spreadsheets
- videos
- audio files
- web pages
Metadata can be very important for web pages. Metadata can include descriptions of page contents and keywords that are linked to them. These metadata are often displayed in search results from search engines. This means that their accuracy and details can influence whether or not a person decides to visit a website. This information is often expressed as meta tags.
Meta tags are used by search engines to determine a page’s relevancy. The key element in determining a page’s position in a search was meta tags until the late 1990s. The increase in search engine optimization (SEO) towards the end of the 1990s led to many websites keyword stuffing their metadata to trick search engines and make their websites appear more relevant than others.
Although meta tags are no longer used by search engines to index pages, they have been reduced in importance. Many search engines try to stop web pages from being able to deceive their system. They frequently change their criteria for ranking, with Google being well-known for changing its ranking algorithm.
You can create metadata manually or through automated information processing. Manual creation tends to be more precise and allows the user to enter any information that they consider relevant or would help describe the file. Automated metadata creation can be much more elementary, Usually only displays information like file size and file extension. also shows who created the file.
Metadata use cases
Metadata is created whenever a document, file, or other information asset is modified, deleted, or both. Precise metadata can help extend the life of data and allow users to find new ways to use it.
Metadata organizes data objects using terms that are associated with them. It allows objects that are not related to each other to be identified and paired together to optimize the use of data assets. Search engines and browsers decide which web content they display by reading the metadata tags that are associated with documents.
Metadata is written in a way that can be understood by both computers and humans. This standardization helps to improve interoperability between different applications and information systems.
Digital publishing, engineering, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing companies use metadata to gain insights into how to improve products and upgrade processes. For example, streaming content providers automate the management of intellectual property metadata so it can be stored in a variety of applications so that copyright holders are protected and music and videos are accessible to authenticated users.
The maturation of AI technologies is helping to ease the burden of managing metadata. It automates previously manual processes to catalog and tag information assets.
Origins and history of metadata
Jack E. Myers, the founder of Metadata Information Partners (now The Metadata Company), claims to have coined the term in 1969. Myers filed a trademark in 1986 for the unhyphenated term “metadata”. However, the term is still used in academic papers dating back to Myers’ claim.
An academic paper was published in 1967. A professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Griffel and Stuart McIntosh defined metadata as “a record of… “of the data records” are created when bibliographic data on a topic is collected from different sources. Researchers concluded that a meta-linguistic approach, or “metalanguage,” was necessary to allow a computer system interpret this data in its context and other relevant data. McIntosh and Griffel, however, treated “meta”, unlike Myers. They used it as a prefix for “data”.
Originally Published on The Tech Trend
