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posted by Editor
on Monday March 27, @06:02PM
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This article on Mappa Mundi entitled Demystifying Metadata provides a good overview of the basic techniques for using metadata (i.e. data about data) to maintain control of databases as they grow in size. It starts out with a historical context, focusing on the organization system used by the U.S. Library of Congress and H. G. Wells' 1937 vision of a global encyclopedia called the World Brain. It then reviews the basic steps for implementing effective metadata, starting with the surprisingly difficult step of assigning unique IDs to data items, building multiple pathways to the data, and finally placing the data into context with other information using techniques such as ontology. There is also an overview of some ongoing efforts to classify online data, such as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, which provides semantic descriptions for fifteen basic descriptive elements. These methods will become increasingly important as systems start using XML to evolve from merely crunching data to managing "knowledge".
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