Another explainer on metadata.

How does metadata turn up on the web?

1. Where can I see metadata?

Several students asked for more clarification about how metadata operates, especially structural metadata. Here are a couple sweet examples.

• Consider this Target page for Skittles candy. Do you see the line of text “Target / Grocery / Candy / Gummy & Chewy Candy?” This is structural metadata. You can search for “skittles” with any combination of tags. These metadata do not describe what is in Skittles in a significant way. Rather …

2. Descriptive metadata for Skittles

Further down the page we find “Highlights,” that include details about the weight and count of the Skittles, along with what food it does and does not contain. These details describe Skittles, but Target hasn’t organized its website around the the size of candy. That is, there is not “All boxes of candy between 30–32 oz” category. So, these details are descriptive.

3. Yes, but…?

In this description, you may have found yourself think “Chewy Candy” could be descriptive and package size could be used to structure the website. Yes. Many types of metadata can be structural or descriptive, depending on how it is used.

The relief from 5th century Persia includes dimensions (which is descriptive metadata) and also it is made of Limestone, which could be a description or a structural metadata. Historians (unlike companies) have to think about what metadata is historically significant and can help others access and understand the past.

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/209/relief-carved-fragment-from-persepolis-persian

4. Persian and limestone are used by MIA as structural metada.

On the right hand side, you can see “Persian” and “Limestone” with carrot icons. Clicking these terms or icons shows you the other items in the collection that have the same metadata.