Metadata: What It Is and How It Works
Metadata is structured data about other data. It provides information that helps you understand, find, and use the described data. Without metadata, we would be lost in a sea of unstructured digital content.
Definition of Metadata
It's a set of data about other data. In other words, they provide information and context for data, facilitating search, management, use, and understanding of the described data. For example, if you take a photo with your smartphone, the digital image metadata would include: - Data type — for example, the file name. - How the data were created — the type of camera with which the photo was taken. - When the data were created — the date and time of the shot. - Where the data were created — the location of the shot. - Data size — the file size. - Data author — the phone from which the photo was taken. Each camera or app may capture additional metadata and vary slightly in types. However, photo metadata will tell you information about the shot, but not show the image itself. The same applies to digital asset metadata — it will provide information about the asset, but not its actual content.
How Metadata Works
They briefly describe basic information about other data and are widely used in information management and automated information processing. You generate metadata every time you create, modify, or delete a document, file, or any other informational asset. Metadata describes informational assets to help users understand their purpose and relevance, indicate the organization and relationships of various components within a dataset, facilitate administrative data management, ensure long-term access and data integrity, assist in searching and discovering data, and provide technical details for software and devices for the correct understanding and display of each data element. The language of metadata is standardized so that both humans and computers can understand it. This standardized language allows for better data compatibility and integration between applications and computer systems. Metadata also plays a significant role in creating web pages, as they convey essential information to users and search engines. Web developers use HTML tags to embed metadata directly into the web page code. These metadata tags offer descriptions, titles, and keywords that summarize the content and purpose of the web page. Meta tags appear in the search results provided by search engines, so they are used for search engine optimization and to make it easier for users to find information. Users also generate metadata on web pages when they write comments, like, repost content on social networks, and even when they simply search for information on a web page through queries. Companies use these metadata for SEO, content personalization, marketing research, and product improvement.
12 Types of Metadata
There are twelve types of metadata. The primary three types are descriptive, structural, and administrative. However, they can be further classified into finer types according to the specific role they play in data management:
Descriptive Metadata
This is bibliographic information that identifies specific data, describes its content, context, and characteristics. This type of metadata includes the document title, creator name, data type, creation date, volume count, keywords, etc.
Structural Metadata
Similar to a table of contents in a book — they provide information about the physical organization, location, and relationships between data files and resources within systems. For example, structural metadata for a video might include information about the sequence of different parts of the video and the placement of advertisements.
Administrative Metadata
Contain information about the origin of the resource, data creator or owner, access rights, and other copyright and usage rights and policies.
Technical Metadata
Provide information about the technical attributes of a digital resource, such as file size, format, resolution, encoding, data source, metadata schema, and other technical data.
Process Metadata
Offer information about the outcomes of various operations and workflows within a data repository, containing details about various actions, tools, and steps taken to generate, modify, and manage statistical data. This type of metadata helps analyze data and understand its quality and reproducibility.
Preservation Metadata
Include information about long-term data storage, such as file migration history and digital signatures. This type of metadata ensures the availability of digital resources.
Legal Metadata
Provide information about licensing, copyrights, ownership, usage rights, and other legal aspects of digital resources.
Usage Metadata
Record information on how data sets are utilized. This might include data on the number of views of a digital asset, who viewed it, when, and how much time they interacted with it, etc. Companies use this type of metadata to assess the popularity of their assets and analyze customer behavior to improve their products and services.
Quality Metadata
Show information about the data quality level. They measure quality, accuracy, timeliness, reliability, and completeness of the data. Such metadata store details about data set statuses, freshness, conducted tests, and the success of these tests.
Statistical Metadata
Include information about collection methods, sampling techniques, and data accuracy. For instance, this type of metadata ensures transparency and reliability of statistical reports and surveys published by government agencies.
Reference Metadata
Provide information about the semantics and relationships of data elements within large data sets or databases. This type of metadata helps users understand the significance and interconnectivity of elements, facilitating their interpretation and analysis.
Collaboration Metadata
Contain information about interactions, contributions, and communications around data. This includes comments, chat transcripts, tags, bookmarks, and issue tickets, helping to collaborate and work more efficiently.
Why Metadata is Important?
They simplify the search, use, and management of data, providing a standard mechanism and language. Without metadata describing content, it would be challenging to find necessary files or any other content online or in a database. Metadata also help track all changes and data exchange. Metadata play a key role in data security. By specifying who can access information, metadata ensure the protection of sensitive data so that only authorized users can view or modify them.
