Q.1 What is Meta Data. Why it is important?

In most information technology usages, the prefix of meta conveys “an underlying definition
or description.” So it is that, at its most basic, metadata is data about data.

More precisely, however, metadata describes data containing specific information like type,
length, textual description and other characteristics.

Considering the scope of data to which it applies – from document files, images and videos to
spreadsheets and webpages, along with the explosion in data quantity, it’s not surprising that
understanding and managing metadata effectively has become an IT business priority.
Understanding the structure, limitations, definition and description of data protects against
misinterpretation or misuse and helps ensure database integrity.

Types of Metadata
Metadata falls into three main categories:

 Descriptive, or used for discovery and identification and including such information
as title, author, abstract and keywords.
 Structural, which shows how information is put together – page order to chapters, for
example.
 Administrative, which enables better resource management by showing such
information as when and how the resource was created. Two types of administrative
metadata are those that deal with intellectual property rights and preservation
metadata, used to archive and preserve a resource.

The Purposes Metadata Serves

Metadata serves a variety of purposes, with resource discovery one of the most common.
Here, it can be compared to effective cataloging, which includes identifying resources,
defining them by criteria, bringing similar resources together and distinguishing among those
that are dissimilar.

It also is an effective means of organizing electronic resources, which is an important use

given the growth in Web-based resources. Typically, links to resources have been organized
as lists and built as static webpages, with the names and resources hardcoded in HTML. A
more efficient practice, however, is to use metadata to build these pages. For Web purposes,
the information can be extracted and reformatted through use of software tools.

Another use of metadata is as a means of facilitating interoperability and integrating

resources. Using metadata to describe resources enables its understanding by humans as well
as machines. This permits the most effective levels of interoperability, or how data is
exchanged among many systems with disparate operating platforms, data structures and
interfaces. In turn, it facilitates resource searches across the network.

Metadata also facilitates digital identification via standard numbers that uniquely identify the
resource the metadata defines. Along these lines, another practice is to combine metadata so
that it acts as a set of identifying data that differentiate objects or resources, supporting
validation needs.

Finally, metadata is an important way to protect resources and their future accessibility. It’s a
critical concern given the fragility of digital information and its susceptibility to corruption or
alteration. For archiving and preservation purposes, it takes metadata elements that track the
object’s lineage, and describe its physical characteristics and behavior so it can be replicated
on technologies in the future.

Why Meta Data is important ?

Investing in metadata development can create benefits in three key areas:

 It can extend data longevity. The life-span of a typical data set can be very short, often
because missing or unavailable relevant metadata renders it useless. When
comprehensive metadata is developed and maintained, it counters typical data entropy
and degradation.
 It also facilitates data reuse and sharing. Metadata is key to ensuring that data which is
highly detailed or complicated is more easily interpreted, analyzed and processed by
the data’s originator and others.
 Metadata is essential for maintaining historical records of long-term data sets, making
up for inconsistencies that can occur in documenting data, personnel and methods.
Comprehensive metadata can also enable data sets designed for a single purpose to be
reused for other purposes and over the longer term.

Developing and maintaining metadata can be an expensive proposition. There are costs
associated with editing and publishing data and metadata. Their long-term stewardship and
maintenance can also be burdensome. Yet, metadata is an investment that may not be
optional in an era when information is critical to the life force of an organization.

Another definition for Meta Data

There is no one definition of "Metadata" that is international and universally agreed upon –
rather, there are many similar definitions or descriptions which mostly cover the same points.
You should adopt the one most suitable and relevant to the context of your information
management activities and the organization in which you work.

The ISO Records Management Standard 15489 provides this simple definition:

"Data describing content, content, and structure of records and their management
through time."

The US Department of Defense has a definition of metadata in its DoD 5015.2 standard,
which is also similar to the ISO standards, namely:

"Data describing stored data: that is, data describing the structure, data elements,
interrelationships, and other characteristics of electronic records."
This illustrates several of the other purposes served by metadata in Electronic Records
Management (ERM) systems.

Finally, NISO, the US National Information Standards Organization, defines Metadata as:

"Structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to

retrieve, use, or manage an information resource."

Notice the similarities and differences in these definitions and think about how they relate to
the context of your own work. Metadata is often called data about data or information about
information.

What factors make it important

The primary value of Metadata comes with how it is aligned to and supports specific business
goals and objectives. Here are a few of the ways that Metadata brings value to the business:

 Classification - Metadata plays a key role in classification, or organizing your content

Retention - Metadata can be used to track things like the dates associated with a
document's associated record schedule.

 Information Security - Metadata can be used to flag a security setting, validating

access and edit rights, and thus controlling distribution.

 Customer Experience - Metadata can also be used as a way to capture users' rating
of content, for example, indicating that content is "valuable or "useless" or even
"dated."

 Information "Findability" - Metadata is extremely valuable as a search and retrieval

enhancing mechanism by enabling users to target a query on a certain field, such as
author, subject, date, etc.

Metadata is an important part of the content capture, creation, and organization phases of the
content lifecycle. If associated Metadata is not captured at the same time that the content is,
you will quickly create a collection of content that is difficult to manage, find and retrieve.