Metadata 101: Definition, Types & Examples

With the volume of data growing rapidly, metadata has become a crucial component in managing and understanding the vast amounts of data that surround us. From search engine optimization to data security and privacy, metadata plays a vital role in various industries.

But what exactly is metadata, and how does it impact our daily lives? 

Let's dive in and explore the world of metadata, its types, and its significance in various fields.

What is metadata?

Often referred to as "data about data," metadata provides context and structure to digital assets like data points, documents, and images. Metadata helps in organizing, interpreting and managing these assets effectively. For instance:

• An email's metadata might include the sender, recipient, date, time and subject.
• A photograph's metadata could contain details about the camera used, the location and the date it was taken.

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The importance of metadata

Metadata is used in many industries to:

• Store and manage data.
• Better understand vast amounts of data.
• Provide meaningful insight.

For example, efficient metadata management is crucial for data governance and maintaining a metadata repository. This enables the identification of pertinent information and facilitates the search and retrieval of resources, as metadata summarizes basic information about digital assets.

Metadata's significance also extends to website ranking and success, as search engines can use metadata to categorize and display relevant search results.

By effectively managing metadata, organizations can help to optimize their online presence, ultimately driving more traffic and increasing visibility.

Types of metadata

To provide context and structure to digital assets, metadata can be broken down into several types. To help you understand the different variations, let's delve deeper into the three primary types of metadata: descriptive, structural and administrative.

Descriptive metadata

Descriptive metadata describes a resource's content, including its title, author and keywords. This type of metadata is essential for resource discovery, as it enables users to find and access relevant data resources more efficiently.

For example, in a digital document, descriptive metadata may include the following:

• Author's name
• Date of creation
• Document's size
• Date of modification

In addition to facilitating resource discovery, descriptive metadata plays a role in version control within document management systems.

Descriptive metadata ensures that users can efficiently identify, manage and collaborate on digital assets by tracking changes and providing information about the date of creation and last modification.

Administrative metadata

Administrative metadata provides information about resources, such as their creation date, file type and access rights. Its primary purpose is to manage resources, including governance, access controls and security.

Administrative metadata encompasses technical metadata on:

• Copyright information
• Rights management
• License agreements
• Creation and quality control of works

By archiving administrative metadata, organizations can efficiently manage their internal resources and ensure that data is stored, accessed and used securely and competently. This type of metadata plays a significant role in maintaining data integrity and regulatory compliance across various industries.

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Structural metadata

Structural metadata refers to the organization of a resource, such as the chapters in a book or the scenes in a movie. It provides information about the hierarchical relationships between different data resources. For example, a table of contents, page numbers, and section numbering can be used.

This type of metadata is essential for improving the presentation and exploration of collected data, ensuring that users can efficiently navigate through complex data structures.

Markup languages play a role in implementing structural metadata in digital documents, allowing users to distinguish different elements of a document, such as paragraphs or headers. Some examples of markup languages that provide metadata include:

• Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)
• Extensible Markup Language (XML)

These markup languages use tags to enclose segments of text, such as words, sentences or paragraphs, identifying the content within them and facilitating the use of structural metadata.

Such metadata is typically extracted from web pages through web scraping techniques. This is a common practice among data analysts and data scientists during data collection. In my experience, web scraping of pages requires an understanding of how XML formats work to ensure the right data is extracted.

Primary functions of metadata

Resource discovery

One of the primary functions of metadata is resource discovery, making it easier for users and search engines to find relevant data and resources.

Metadata contains descriptions and keywords associated with a web page's content, which search engines display in search results, influencing user engagement. For example, meta tags in HTML provide critical information about a website, enabling search engines to categorize and rank the site accordingly.

Data organization

Metadata also plays a crucial role in organizing and understanding data. By providing context, metadata enables users to navigate digital assets and comprehend their relationships with other data elements.

Metadata also aids in data governance, ensuring that data is properly managed and maintained according to organizational policies and industry standards.

Data security

Another essential function of metadata is in data security. Metadata can be utilized to:

• Protect sensitive information.
• Prevent unauthorized access to data resources.

This includes information about access rights, authentication and encryption, ensuring that only authorized users can access and modify data, thereby maintaining data integrity and security.

Metadata in action: real-life examples

Metadata can be found all around us, providing context and structure to various digital assets. In this section, we will explore some real-life examples of metadata.

Database management

In database management, metadata plays a crucial role in storing and organizing data in a structured manner.

Metadata in a database management system (DBMS) consists of column names and row numbers linked to the data, providing context and facilitating data access. A DBMS catalog is an example of metadata in action, as it contains information that defines database objects and is associated with data collection. Other examples include:

• Database schemas
• Table relationships
• Indexes and views

Metadata in SQL is the data that provides information about the structure of a database, such as the data type and length for each column. It can also include certain descriptive attributes such as access restrictions, authorship, version numbers, and time stamps.

Effective metadata management in databases ensures that data is properly stored, organized and accessed, ultimately improving the efficiency of data-driven processes within organizations.

Web pages & websites

Metadata is an essential component of web pages, providing context to search engines about the content of the page, enabling improved search engine rankings and aiding in web indexing. It helps search engines quickly and accurately identify the contents and purpose of a web page, allowing users to find relevant information more easily. It also provides an additional layer of security for websites by confirming identity and ownership.

Examples of metadata on web pages include:

• Page titles
• Descriptions
• Keywords
• Authors
• Creation dates

In addition to improving search engine rankings, metadata in web pages can also provide context for software languages, tools and objects contained within a page.

Geospatial data

Geospatial metadata provides detailed and reliable information about geographical data, such as the creation date, author's contact information and map projection. This type of metadata is essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of geospatial data and facilitating resource discovery and access for users.

In addition to providing context for the geographic objects and attributes within a dataset, geospatial metadata can also play a role in maintaining data quality and ensuring that sensitive data is protected and accessed only by authorized users.

Non-fungible digital assets

Metadata also plays a huge role in the value of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which are digital assets that can be bought, sold, and traded. NFTs contain metadata about the asset itself, such as its name, description, year of creation, and artist's name. This information is stored on a blockchain network and can be used to verify an NFT's authenticity.

In addition to providing context for buyers and sellers, metadata associated with NFTs also help protect against counterfeiting and fraud, as it is difficult for malicious actors to tamper with verified information stored on a blockchain. For example, on the Cardano blockchain, the transaction metadata is used for:

• Validation
• Authentication
• Security
• Timestamping

Industry-specific metadata standards

Industry-specific metadata standards ensure consistency and structure in describing data attributes across various fields. These standards provide a common framework for organizations to describe and share data, ensuring that data is easily understandable and accessible by users.

Examples of industry-specific metadata standards include

• Metadata Objects Description Schema (MODS) is an XML-based bibliographic metadata standard developed by the U.S. Library of Congress.
• Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is a widely utilized general standard originally created for physical library card catalogs and later adapted for web-based digital metadata.
• Schema.org is a modern standard based on open-source software collaboration, offering a collection of metadata schema designed for structured internet data, email and other digital data forms.
• ISO/IEC 11179 Metadata Registry (MDR) is a standard for the management of metadata registries designed to ensure interoperability across different systems.

By adhering to industry-specific metadata standards, organizations can ensure that their data is accurately described, easily discoverable, and interoperable with other systems and tools. This, in turn, can help organizations streamline their data management processes, improve data quality and facilitate collaboration and sharing of data across different platforms and industries.

The role of metadata in data security & privacy

Metadata also plays a role in data security and privacy, helping to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access to data resources.

For example, metadata can provide information about access rights, authentication, and encryption, ensuring that only authorized users can access and modify data. Metadata management tools, such as metadata repositories and data catalogs, can help organizations maintain control over their data assets and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.

Organizations must be mindful of their metadata management and ensure that they take adequate measures to protect their users' privacy and maintain their data's integrity.