Metadata Matters

by John Horodyski

Overview

"In what is certain to be a seminal work on metadata, John Horodyski masterfully affirms the value of metadata while providing practical examples of its role in our personal and professional lives. He does more than tell us that metadata matters—he vividly illustrates why it matters." —Patricia C. Franks, PhD, CA, CRM, IGP, CIGO, FAI, President, NAGARA, Professor Emerita, San José State University, USA

If data is the language upon which our modern society will be built, then metadata will be its grammar, the construction of its meaning, the building for its content, and the ability to understand what data can be for us all. We are just starting to bring change into the management of the data that connects our experiences.

Metadata Matters explains how metadata is the foundation of digital strategy. If digital assets are to be discovered, they want to be found. The path to good metadata design begins with the realization that digital assets need to be identified, organized, and made available for discovery. This book explains how metadata will help ensure that an organization is building the right system for the right users at the right time. Metadata matters and is the best chance for a return on investment on digital assets and is also a line of defense against lost opportunities. It matters to the digital experience of users. It helps organizations ensure that users can identify, discover, and experience their brands in the ways organizations intend. It is a necessary defense, which this book shows how to build.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032039237
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	04/04/2022
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	688,139
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Horodyski, MLIS, MAS, is a digital sleuth, author, pundit, librarian, archivist, strategist, and management consultant who loves many grand things. These include a great cup of coffee, the splendor of long breakfasts, the grandeur of long dinners, the luscious libations of champagne, a Negroni in summer, a Manhattan in winter, and vodka sodas with lime anytime (but not necessarily in that order), the subtle sublime sounds of minimalist piano and chillout, the principled positive power of metadata, the never-ending necessary life skill and joy of reading books, the physical and spiritual benefits of hiking in the mountains, and the beauty that can only be found anywhere in the Mediterranean, the island of Naxos, the Spanish Riviera, the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, the Big Island of Hawaii and Hapuna Beach, and the warm desert sun and midcentury extravagance of Palm Springs for good living for my future home.

John is a Managing Director with Salt Flats, with executive management strategy experience in information management, including digital asset management (DAM), metadata and taxonomy design, content strategy, analytics, governance, MarTech, and marketing operations. John is one of the world’s leading experts on metadata and DAM and has provided strategic direction and consulting for a variety of Fortune 10, 50, 100, and 500 clients from Consumer Packaging Goods and Retail, to Media & Entertainment, the Pharmaceutical industry, and Insurance. John is also an Adjunct Faculty member at San José State University, where he teaches a graduate course in DAM. In addition to regular training and public speaking on digital media and metadata, John is a board member/metadata editor of the Journal of Digital Media Management and a monthly DAM contributor to CMS Wire.

John lives in Vancouver, Canada, for now.

Table of Contents

Dedication xi

Contents xiii

List of Figures and Tables xvii

Acknowledgments xix

About the Author xxi

Chapter 1 In Praise of Metadata: Lost and Found 1

1.1 An Airplane Saga 1

1.2 Metadata Matters 4

1.3 Metadata in Three Acts 6

1.4 Metadata in Action 12

Chapter 2 Metadata: Some Assembly Required 15

2.1 What Is Metadata 15

2.2 Metadata Standards 20

2.2.1 Metadata Storage 21

2.3 Related Metadata Concepts 22

2.3.1 Control and Consistency 22

2.4 Key Findings Across Industries and Clients 23

2.4.1 Metadata Value 24

2.4.2 A Necessary Defense 25

2.5 Metadata Design: Where to Start? 25

2.5.1 Metadata Best Practices 26

Chapter 3 Taxonomical Tenets 29

3.1 Metadata and Taxonomy 29

3.2 Taxonomy-Hierarchical Structure 34

3.3 Taxonomy-Faceted 36

3.4 Taxonomy Best Practices 39

Chapter 4 Definitions 41

Chapter 5 Adjectivity: Language, Meaning, and Optimization for Content Curation and Discovery 49

5.1 What Is Adjectivity? 49

5.1.1 The Menu, Please 53

5.2 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words … And Yet We Still Have Trouble Naming that Movie 55

5.3 Order of the Fittest 56

5.4 The Media, the News, and Content Inflammation 57

5.5 On Content 58

5.6 Conclusion 62

Chapter 6 Metadata Is a Human Endeavor 63

6.1 Metadata Is Not Magic, but It Most Certainly Can Be Magical 63

6.2 What Have You Done for Me Lately? The Experience Needed, and What They Do 65

6.2.1 Training, Change Management, and Communication Strategy 67

6.2.2 System Upgrades, Metadata Improvements, and Technical Maintenance 67

Chapter 7 Governance 69

7.1 Governance Is No Longer an Option 69

7.2 Governance Demands a Cultural Presence and Footprint 70

7.2.1 Change Management Governance Responsibilities 72

7.3 People, Process, Technology … and Content 72

7.4 Best Practices 76

7.5 Why Governance? 77

Chapter 8 Metadata and Workflow 81

8.1 Metadata Is Meaningful 81

8.2 Administrative Metadata 83

8.3 ROI 86

8.4 Metadata Helps with User Adoption 87

8.5 File Naming Conventions 87

8.6 Summary 90

Chapter 9 What Do Good Metadata, UX, and Search Look Like? 93

9.1 User Experience 93

9.2 Search 94

9.3 Metadata and KPIs 99

9.4 Conclusion 103

Chapter 10 Please Feed the Robots Good Data 105

10.1 Good Robot 105

Chapter 11 Building a Metadata Strategy 111

11.1 Strategy Building Data by Data by Data 111

11.2 Timeline to Develop a Metadata Model 113

11.2.1 Building the Right Team 113

11.2.2 Making the Business Case 115

11.2.3 Discovery and Requirements Gathering 116

11.2.4 Content Audit 117

11.2.5 Metadata Specifications 119

11.2.6 Workflow 122

11.2.7 Quality Assurance and UA Testing 122

11.3 Metadata Makes the Difference 124

Chapter 12 Metadata Maturity 127

12.1 The Metadata Maturity Model 127

12.1.1 Maturity Levels 128

12.1.2 Metadata Aspects 129

12.1.3 Metadata Dimensions-The Collections 130

12.2 Metadata Maturity Level Assessment 130

Chapter 13 Metadata Is a Love Note to the Future … 133

Appendix: Metadata Manifesto 139

Glossary 141

Index 143

Editorial Reviews

Digital technology has become our externalized nervous system. Our mental activities are closely linked to the quality and organization of the data we produce and consult on a daily basis. For our work to be effective and well-coordinated, it is necessary that our metadata system be fit for purpose and regularly updated. John Horodyski's book Metadata Matters is an impassioned plea for intelligent metadata management. It is a must read for Chief Information Officers, Chief Data Officers and anyone concerned with sound knowledge management.—Pierre Lévy, PhD, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, CEO of INTLEKT Metadata Inc.

Metadata guru John manages to pull off the difficult task of writing a book that’s not only much needed and useful but also highly engaging. In lucid prose, using rich examples from our personal and professional lives, John makes a strong case for metadata and its central role for your digital strategy. You’ll learn how metadata can increase the return on investment of marketing and content systems. There’s practical guidance, best practices and more to put all this knowledge into practice as well. A must read for marketing, content, and digital professionals.—Kashyap Kompella, CEO, RPA2AI Research

Metadata is about making information accessible, and John Horodyski has made the subject of metadata accessible to all in this very readable book that not only teaches principles of metadata but also increases our awareness and appreciation of metadata. Drawing on his rich experience as consultant, Horodyski thoroughly addresses metadata in all fields and industries. This book is not limited to those who plan to manage their metadata but is for anyone who wonders whether they need to or whether they should even care.—Heather Hedden, Author, The Accidental Taxonomist

From helping us make our everyday choices to making our machines smart, metadata powers our world. John's book is a love song sung to the stuff that's about stuff, full of stories that will entertain you and examples that will help you understand, craft, and choose metadata that indeed matters.—Louis Rosenfeld, co-author of Information Architecture and publisher and founder, Rosenfeld Media

In what is certain to be a seminal work on metadata, John Horodyski masterfully affirms the value of metadata while providing practical examples of its role in our personal and professional lives. He does more than tell us that metadata matters—he vividly illustrates why it matters. As a Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Metadata Expert, Horodyski is uniquely aware that metadata itself is an asset that is needed to provide context so that other information can be located, retrieved, managed, and interpreted. He distinguishes among different types of metadata—descriptive, administrative, and structural—and discusses the usefulness of metadata standards to provide consistency which can facilitate findability, migration, and interoperability, as well as result in cost savings. Whether new to the concept of metadata or veteran metadata specialists, by the end of the book, all readers will be metadata champions!—Patricia C. Franks, PhD, CA, CRM, IGP, CIGO, FAI, President, NAGARA, Professor Emerita, San José State University, USA

Finally, an easy-to-read handbook that explores how metadata can inspire us to unlock the potential of the information we create. In Metadata Matters, John Horodyski delivers practical, real-world examples of how putting metadata to work can help us develop differentiating capabilities that would be otherwise difficult or impossible to enjoy. Do yourself a favor. Get this book and devour every chapter. You'll discover how effectively using metadata can dramatically advance the role of content across your enterprise.—Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler

From the Publisher