definition of "meta"

[nmuch at execpc.com]

I don't know if this will help, but in the social sciences we
used "meta" in the sense of a reflexive "about" -- For example --
a "metalanguage" is a language for talking about a language; a 
metatheory is a theory about theory; meta-rules are rules about
rules, and so on.  The usage relates to the sense of "meta" as
"transcendent. 

I think this usage fits the case for metadata.  If the document 
is the "data" then the "metadata" is some further data about the data.

Regards,
Nancy

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N.C. Much, Ph.D. University of Chicago 1983, Human Development
Graduate Student, SLIS University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee
Research Consultant, Office of Research and Evaluation, Alverno College
Email: nmuch at execpc.com;  Email: ncm2 at csd.uwm.edu
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