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On 16 February 2012 12:13, suzanne.pilsk <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > (Pssst: Does it matter if you call it data and I call it metadata?) Yes. Yes it does. Although possibly not for the reasons you might think I'll give. I think it's really important that developers (and researchers) get out of the mindset that: a) metadata isn't data b) metadata isn't important c) data can't be both metadata and data Because the chances are that it is all important, but in different ways, and has different needs in frequency of use, indexing, etc. Treating everything the same, and in one big bucket, is likely to slow down the processes of indexing, locating, and scanning over possible resources. So there is a need to think about things in terms of what is required for different purposes - what is needed for locating and describing resources, and everything that is required to use those resources. And that may well mean having bits of information that are duplicated in more than one bucket. But what we can't be is scared of identifying that there are different needs and requirements, different scopes of relevant data. Or that users actually have names for these scopes. G