Metadata

Metadata is structured data about content: what it is, what it is about, who it is for and how it may be used. In information architecture, metadata is what connects content to Navigation systems, filters and search — the precondition for Findability at scale.

Three common kinds

• Descriptive — title, subject, audience, product, keywords
• Structural — how parts relate: a topic belongs to a map, a chapter to a manual
• Administrative — version, status, owner, rights, review dates

Dublin Core's fifteen elements (title, creator, subject, description, date, type, format and others) are a widely used starting point for descriptive metadata.

Making metadata reliable

Metadata is only as good as its values. Free-text fields drift; values from a Controlled vocabulary or Taxonomy stay consistent. Faceted classification turns a handful of well-chosen metadata fields into flexible navigation.

From metadata to meaning

When metadata values are themselves defined concepts with relations — "component X is part of product Y" — metadata becomes the entry point to an Ontology. Standards such as iiRDS package technical documentation with RDF metadata so that portals and AI systems can deliver the right content for a given product, situation and user.