loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Metadata_Description.tex - view

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Convenince labels added to the top of each file to assist in creating
index-type help files for things like the XML editor screen (where
there's nothing to hook help to).

\label{Metadata_Description} \index{Metadata}\label{What Is Metadata?}\emph{Metadata} is \emph{data about data}. Metadata can often be thought of as a label on some bit of information that can be useful to people or computer programs trying to use the data. Without metadata, the person or computer trying to use the original information would have to just guess what the original data is about. For instance, if you create a problem and neglect to say in the title or subject of the problem what it is about, then a human who wants to use that problem would have to read the problem itself to see what it was about, which is much more difficult than just reading a title. A computer trying to do the same thing would just be out of luck; it is too stupid to understand the problem statement at all. One example of metadata is the <title> of a web page, which usually shows up in the title bar of the browser. That's information about the web page itself, not actually part of the web page. People use the title information when they bookmark a page, so they know what the page is. Search engines use it as a clue about the content of the web page.