6 Ways Metadata Matters: From Social Media to Law Enforcement
By Koi Mapolon
In today's day and age, we're surrounded by so many different forms of technology. And with the vast amount of information, have you ever wondered how to classify it all? That's where metadata comes in. It’s something that we encounter daily with the likes of the hashtags used on social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, but everything has metadata—it’s just under the surface.
What is metadata then? Simply put, it’s data about data. It’s what drives data management and everything that we encounter digitally has it. It gives assets their context and helps users identify them as well as know what can be done with them. A metadata schema is the overall structure or standard for the metadata. It sets up how metadata information would be laid out and dictates what pieces of information should be there.
You can think of metadata like a book in a library. When you open a book, you find more information than just the title and the author. The front matter – the edition, publisher, and the year of publication, etc. – would be the metadata of the book and you would not be able to create an effective library catalog information without it. For digital assets, though, you can be more intentional and expand the range of data captured, choosing specific keywords that would help with visibility, metrics, rights management and more.
Now you might ask yourself: Why would a good metadata schema be important? Couldn't I just tag assets in any way I can? The answer to the latter would be yes--but you risk losing that asset in the vast lake of other assets that exist. Going back to the library example, if books are not properly cataloged, you could end up looking at shelves and shelves that seem to be organized, but you’d never be able to find anything. But a library isn’t the only place that uses metadata. The following are more examples of why metadata is important and how it can be beneficial:
Search: Accurate and thorough tagging would be essential for users searching for specific information. Just like the hashtags we use on social media, meta tags help with search engine optimization and could mean the difference whether a visitor clicks on a link.
Social Media: Aside from helping users who are searching for specific topics, the metadata in these posts also help build the algorithm for those who are just scrolling through. Alongside a user’s viewing history, these tags help determine which content, old and new, will be pushed forward in the algorithm.
Data Archiving: A good metadata structure enables efficient archiving without needing to move the actual asset around. Aside from also making it easier to locate, a properly designed metadata schema could extend an asset's life as the information recorded can help with finding new ways to use it.
Business Improvement: Metadata can be analyzed and used to help businesses identify patterns in their operations and find areas that can be improved. IDC data shows that 30% of a workday, approximately 2.5 hours, is spent searching for information by knowledge workers (source), and having effective metadata can increase the efficiency of this process, which can convert to significant savings to organizations.
Presentation of Information: A good metadata schema would enable the presentation of information in numerous ways using sorting, grouping, and filtering. This can all be done through referencing the metadata.
Law Enforcement: Just as metadata can help in identifying patterns in business operations, it can also help in determining patterns relevant to cases. Metadata can be used to confirm the validity of evidence as well as compare it to other similar evidence if anything needed to be disputed. An example of this in action would be in the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard case where the latter had provided two images that looked the same except for difference in the coloring. An expert confirmed that these two images had the same metadata, at least when it comes to the date and time that the images were taken. Assets retain the original metadata information upon creation, even after manipulation.
These are only a few examples that show the importance of metadata and the benefits of a good metadata schema. Even though you don’t see it in your day-to-day, it doesn’t mean you aren’t using it. A lot of the benefits work behind the scenes, like the gears in a ticking clock or the sound effect work of foley artists. Metadata is an essential and prevalent part of the modern age filled with vast amounts of data.
Hungry for more information on metadata?
Check out John Horodyski’s new book, Metadata Matters.
