5 Tips for Advanced Metadata Management

Okay, so that's my "in a nutshell" definition of Metadata Management. But let's take a step back to the beginning, and solve some of these mysteries of metadata. First of all, what is metadata? Well, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary; metadata a noun plural but singular or plural in construction : data that provides information about other data. .in other words, data about data as it refers to an electronic or digital file. Metadata is critical in ensuring that your digital assets will be accessible far into the future. Now, I suppose you may be wondering how metadata is generated. Where exactly does it come from? Metadata is being generated from the moment you create a new document in Photoshop or use your digital camera to capture an image. Metadata generated by Photoshop includes information such as; document creation date, document page size, color mode and resolution, just to name a few. Metadata generated when you capture an image includes information such as; the date the image was taken, whether or not a flash was used, if there was any special aperture or exposure settings, and so on. Now that you have an understanding of what metadata is and where it comes from, here are some tips to help you get started with managing your metadata. Tip #1 The first step in managing your metadata is to gain an understanding of what metadata you want to manage. For example, you would like to find a photo of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, which was taken at night. How do you locate that particular image? Well, at Google.com it's simple. Just click on the Images tab, and type in "Eiffel Tower at night," and you will get a full page of results. Now that is fast and efficient. How fast and efficient do you want to be? Tip #2 Develop good writing techniques when authoring metadata such as asset descriptions. Remember to: Stay clear of the usage of slang or jargon. Write for a general audience, not a specific gender or ethnicity. Keep it simple, but complete.