Info 202 Fall 2011

The easiest way to indicate what something means is to give it a name,
label, tag, or description.  This additional information about a specific resource, or about a
or class or collection of resources is "metadata" because it is
not part of the resource or its content.  "What is being described" can be
considered on two separate dimensions - the
contexts/containers/collections in which it occurs, and the level of
abstraction (how large is the set of instances that are treated as
equivalent when metadata is assigned).  How much metadata, what kind,
and who should provide it are fundamental concerns. Some "contextual"
metadata can be assigned automatically, but this raises questions about
the identification and scope of the context.