Term: Metadata

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Term: Metadata

Definition:

Information about an analog or digital object, a component of an object, or a coherent collection of objects. Metadata describing digital content is often structured (e.g., with tagging or markup) and it may be embedded (Metadata, embedded) within a single file, incorporated within the "packaging" that is associated with a group of files (e.g., METS), placed in a related external file (e.g., XMP sidecar file), or in a system external to the digital file (e.g., a database) to which the digital file or files are linked via a unique key or association.

Category:

Metadata

Resource:

Definitions from a digital library perspective, from the Harvard University library
http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/digproj/metadata.html

Metadata tutorial from Cornell University Library preservation program
http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/metadata/table5-1.html

See also:

Exif; IPTC Metadata; Metadata, administrative; Metadata, descriptive; Metadata, embedded; Metadata, file characteristics; Metadata, preservation; Metadata, process; Metadata, rights; Metadata, source; Metadata, structural; Metadata, technical; TIFF Header