definition of "meta"

[Jul,Erik]

Toward convergence:

Lorcan wrote:

>   Metadata is data associated 
> 
	[Jul,Erik]
	 
	[similar to my sense of "along with"]

> with objects
> 
	[Jul,Erik]  

	Here's where the notion of multiple "levels" of metadata can
confound the definition.  For example, here is some data:

	Lorcan Dempsey

	Here is some metadata *with* the data:

	<DC:Creator>Lorcan Dempsey</DC:Creator>
	         ^                     ^
	         |                      |
	 [metadata]            [data]

	In this example, what is the object of the metadata?  The
character string, Lorcan Dempsey.

	So, Lorcan's definition works on this level.  But, with what
object is the entire string

	     <DC:Creator>Lorcan Dempsey</DC:Creator>

	associated?  Or, to put it another way, can we think of the
entire string

	     <DC:Creator>Lorcan Dempsey</DC:Creator>

	itself as metadata?  How so?  If we have a record (or file, or
resource) containing the following

		<DC:Title>Metadata: a current view of practice and
issues.</DC:Title> 
	      <DC:Creator>Lorcan Dempsey</DC:Creator>
	 
	Now perhaps we refer to the entire construct as metadata (no
longer differentiating between the metadata tags and their constitutent
data) .  The target resource is whatever the thing is with the title,
"Metadata: a current view of practice and issues" and creator, "Lorcan
Dempsey."  (We still don't really know what the target resource is, but
we know that is has certain properties, namely, Creator and Title, and
that those properties have certain values.  

	To continue with Lorcan's definition:

	...which relieves their
>   potential users of having to have full advance knowledge of
>   their existence or characteristics. 
> 
	[Jul,Erik]  

	[matches my "provides a context for understanding or
interpreting the primary data."]

	--Erik

	Erik Jul
	jul at oclc.org