Metadata: Queen to King Content?

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Metadata: Queen to King

Content?Toni MantychADP, LLC

Disclaimer

This presentation reflects my own research and opinions, not those of my employer, ADP, LLC.

05/03/2023TC Dojo Open Session: Metadata (Toni Mantych) 2

The Plan

• The ascendance of metadata• Some definitions and

examples• Impacts on tech comm • Questions/discussion


Metadata’s ascendance (ascension?)

In our age of social media, networked knowledge, and the Internet of Things, metadata’s uses—and thus its power and its importance—continue to expand rapidly.


Not so long ago…

At the STC Summit in May 2014 and at Information Development World in October 2014, I was asking my audiences if they knew what metadata was.


Metadata was already in the news

…though it was mentioned in quotation marks…or it was discussed without being named.

605/03/2023TC Dojo Open Session: Metadata (Toni Mantych)

But today, it’s everywhere

…and it is often discussed with the assumption that even non-technical audiences already know what it is. 7

If “Content is King”

…Metadata is (at least) Queen05/03/2023TC Dojo Open Session: Metadata (Toni Mantych) 8

Queen, not Queen Consort!


“In the modern era of ubiquitous computing, metadata has become infrastructural, like the electric grid or the highway system.”

David Weinberger, author of Too Big to Know and other key books about knowledge in our time, was keynote speaker at DITA NA / CM Strategies, April 2016.

Jeffrey Pomerantz, in Metadata (MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, 2015)

“Metadata makes the world go ‘round. You might not know it, but it does.”

Amber Swope, 23 October 2014, DITA Summit at Information Development World

Defining metadata and related terms

“Data about data.” Got that. But what does that really mean?


Metadata makes computers smart


Cobblestone had the best traditional music.

It is located in Smithfield, near the Jameson distillery.

(Most) Computers can’t read


Cobblestone had the best traditional music.

It is located in Smithfield, near the Jameson distillery.

Metadata provides context


Review

Location

Rating

Sometimes metadata is visible and useful to humans. But, like the highway or the electric grid, it is always “hard at work” behind the scenes any time we create, store, or retrieve content and data using computers.

Some examples of metadata

Some examples of metadata

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Some other names for metadata


• Tags• Attributes• Properties• Conditions• Labels

How metadata is created

• Automatically, by “system”– Author, created on, last modified, number of

views, length, revision number• By users, according to categories and values

defined in a schema, taxonomy, ontology, or controlled vocabulary– audience=expert, genre

• By users, as they see fit (i.e., they make up the tags, values, etc.)– #becausechocolate, #GoGauchos


Types of metadata (a partial, simplified list)

• Descriptive– Explicitly added and, um, describes the content– Main purpose is to help users find and retrieve content– TC examples: product, audience, and release content applies to; difficulty of a

procedure• Administrative

– Some automatically created, some explicitly created– Used to managed the content/data, often within a workflow– TC examples: Source, owner, reviewer, draft status, creation date, expiration date,

approver• Structural

– Defines how information is to be organized, assembled, or presented– Can define relationships among content objects/information chunks– TC examples: semantic element tags (e.g., <title>, <step>, <chapter>), “online only”


But what's it good for?

Lots of things--many of which fall under the general umbrella of helping people find relevant information quickly and easily. But metadata can also help with process improvement, user research, and more!


Metadata is essential to…

• Improving the findability and retrievability of content (whether a machine or a human being is “looking” for it)– Provides UI navigation categories/labels– Enables context-and-user-sensitive search results– Powers “intelligent content” and “dynamic publishing”


“There’s no such thing as information overload; there is only filter failure.”Approximate quotation of David Weinberger, DITA NA/CM Strategies 2016

“The solution to the information overload problem is to create more information: metadata.”

Actual quotation from David Weinberger, Too Big to Know (2011)

Metadata can also be used to…• Enable reuse

– Descriptive metadata makes it easier for authors to find relevant content

– Structural metadata provides the predictable framework necessary for component-level reuse

– Conditional metadata allows content to be reused even when it needs to be slightly different in different contexts

• Improve content development workflows and support robust content management– Administrative metadata allows tracking of content

through editorial publishing workflows• Learn about clients and improve client experience


TC ImpactsSo, how will this change tech comm and what I do on a daily basis?


New roles & new tasks for old roles

• Information architects and metadata/taxonomy specialists will need to define metadata requirements, categories & values, and policies.

• Content creators will need to understand defined metadata structures and policies and tag content appropriately as they create it.

• Content engineers or publishing & search specialists will need to build (or buy), configure, and manage metadata-driven delivery systems.

• Content curators, UX researchers, and client support personnel will be able to study user-generated tags to learn about clients and to improve the defined taxonomies used to power search and delivery.


Influences/Resources• Books

– Heather Hedden, The Accidental Taxonomist (2010)– Patrick Lambe, Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies,

Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness (2007) – Jeffrey Pomerantz, Metadata (MIT Press Essential

Knowledge series, 2015)– Darin L. Stewart, Building Enterprise Taxonomies (2011)– David Weinberger, Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge

Now That the Facts Aren’t Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room (2011)

– Rick Yagodich, Author Experience: Bridging the Gap between People and Technology in Content Management (2014)


Influences/Resources - continued• Conference/Presentation Decks

– Joe Gelb, “Introduction to DITA 1.2 Classification and Subject Schemes: Building a Knowledge Model for Your Content” (2012): http://ow.ly/x2mdR

– Joe Gelb, “Using Taxonomy for Customer-Centric Dynamic Publishing” (2014): http://ow.ly/x2m2m

– Rebecca Schneider, “Creating a Metadata Strategy” (2014): http://ow.ly/x2lZd

• Training – “Taxonomy and Metadata Practitioner” online course offered by

AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management): The Global Community of Information Professionals (www.aiim.org)


http://ow.ly/x2mdR

http://ow.ly/x2m2m

http://ow.ly/x2lZd

http://www.aiim.org/

About me


I do not practice any martial arts. But I do lead the Information Architecture team for a department of over 50 information developers at ADP. In that role, I’ve led numerous content strategy and information architecture initiatives, most recently a multi-year migration to structured authoring with DITA and the implementation of component content management. I have also taught graduate courses in information architecture, DITA, content strategy, usability, and various tech comm tools and technologies at Portland State University. This fall, I will begin teaching DITA in the UCSC Extension Technical Writing Certificate program. I’m also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), a certified AIIM Metadata and Taxonomy Practitioner, and an avid fan of the US Women’s National Soccer Team.

Questions?

Contact me at: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Metadata: Queen to King Content?

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