AIB. Commissione nazionale università e ricerca | |
Nothing new under the sun. Metadata are 'data on data', i.e. information usually divided into fields, concerning primary full-text documents, allowing easier organization and retrieval. An early typical example of metadata is the traditional library catalogue card which refers to the 'data' of books and serials on library shelves.
Anything new under the sun? In a network environment, data and metadata tend to merge in files that contain both, as for HTML documents and – even more so – for SGML ones, and the author becomes a sort of pre-indexer himself. Is this a new development that overahauls the traditional documentary chain or is it a rationalization coherent with CIP-like (Cataloguing in Publication) tools?
This paper will outline the most important metadata projects in progress, particularly those referring to HTML documents and to metatags that can be inserted in the 'head' sections of their files; it will focus on the problem of a possible crisis of the cataloguer's role, now a 'third party' between author and reader, just as the judge must be the 'third party' between barrister and prosecutor.