The word metadata refers to data that details other data. These HTML mechanisms describe information regarding the web page that contains them. They must be well configured so that search engines can specify the main information of a website. Your information highlights quality data, availability, history, content, etc …
Within the metadata we can find three different types:
- Administrative. They are those who are in charge of communicating resources such as access permissions, acquisition dates, guidelines for withholding or withdrawal instructions. In short, they are in charge of facilitating the service of resource groups.
- Descriptive. This type of metadata shows us information related to the geographical location, the title of a publication, the keywords used, etc … They are in charge of specifying and identifying all the information resources
- Structural. They are the ones that provide a compilation of the most important files and conclusions on what concerns internal and external relations. They also contain distinctions in the sequencing of information and aid in navigation.
Their value lies in the fact that they display information about the information through structures that define a resource from various perspectives, facilitating data retrieval.
Metadata functions
Among the main functions we find the following.
- Recovery. The retrieval function shall provide users with all the information they can obtain based on their interest. In addition to the location of data in the offline state; contact person, distribution arrangements, access limitation and price information.
- Location. They will have to provide the necessary information to reveal if there are data of interest within the available data or at least to know if they exist.
- Assessment. The information provided should determine to users whether the data will be useful for what they are looking for.
- Transmission. They will provide the necessary information to use the recovered files on the different devices. As well as the size of the total data, metadata and logical and physical structures of the same.
- Preservation and registration. They must guarantee that the information is documented and detailed regarding those responsible and guaranteeing its accessibility in the future.
- Exchange of information. They will have to be interoperable, facilitating the exchange of information through shared protocols.