Being an Information Manager...

The Value of Meta Data

In my previous post I already mentioned that I created a wiki dealing with meta data (check out: http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/MetaPedia) and the question is of course if this will ever evolve into anything. My experience with meta data (or information about information) is that it is a bit like flogging a dead horse. Still intuitively I think that if can add a lot of value.

So why is Meta Data management valuable?

• Meta data can help a lot when searching for documents. Adding meta data in web pages, documents, etc. increases the accuracy of the search result. The more meta data tags are standardised the more likely the users use them to their benefit
• Good meta data adds meaning to data, through context and description it is more likely data is understood and becomes information. An idea we tried out is to use something like a wiki as an online help - moving meta data into the knowledge management space
• Meta data can help managing information in a large enterprise context. When companies have to deal with many systems and complex data integration issues, than it is good to have an overview of data definitions, rules for data quality, rules of data integration (e.g. master source), etc.
• Meta data help automated data integration. When information is tagged using standard XML schema's than it becomes possible to integrate in all sorts of ways. Standardising on XML requires good meta data management and clarity on definition, else it won't work. The creator of the world wide web - Tim Berners-Lee - is now working on the Semantic Web and this all links back to having a standardised way of defining content (maybe more on this in a later Blog entry ...)

So if there is so much value why don't we do it?

Like said earlier - meta data management is a bit of a dead subject for most. People get excited by new gadgets, functionality, look & feel, but not about something administrative like meta data. It is like plumbing - nobody is interested where shit goes, but it is nice the sewer exists! Good meta data management is hard work and is not for people that are not very organised ... and without getting clear & quick reward nobody will do it.

So how to get it done?

• Make it exciting - this happened a bit when XML became a hype at the turn of the century. And the good news is - XML is now everywhere. So with other words - if you use the right 'hype' word, then it may get exciting. XML sounds like it is new, high tech, the next big thing and then some people actually start doing it
• Do it integrated - meta data management should not be standing on its own, like an ugly girl at a party waiting to be asked for a dance. When meta data is integrated with the data (like in XML), or with the application (like an online help), or is part of the companies knowledge management (like in Wiki's), then there is a change it will work out.
• Make it easy - if I need to tag this blog, than I get automatically a list of Tags I have used before. So why not have something like that built in part and parcel of tools like Word and Powerpoint? Maybe a future 'Vista' will do this automatically for us?
• Make it rewarding - as a manager you can reward people for boring things (like organising the junk-free day), so why not have reward for collecting & managing meta data?

Anyway - let's make meta data work - and if you happen to have more information on meta data, than add this to MetaPedia on Scratchpad Wiki.

Labels: meta data, search, semantic web, tagging, XML

posted by Evert Ruijs @ 9:25 AM