Metadata

Metadata (pronounced met-a-dar-ta)

(1) In computer science (originally from the database discipline), information that is held as a description of stored data; data that describes other data, serving as an informative label.

(2) In surveillance and law-enforcement, an infinitely variable set of parameters about a file, directory or other cluster of data which constitute the structured information about the data.

2000s: A compound word meta + data. Data is the plural of the Latin datum (something given) and some pedants continue to insist on the singular/plural distinction in English though it seems a losing battle.  Data entered English in the 1640s as “a thing given”, technically the neuter past participle of dare to give.  The meaning in the modern sense of "transmittable and storable computer information" was first noted in 1946 and “data processing” dates from 1954.  Despite the origins, metadata is a pure English word to which the rules of English apply; despite the technical possibilities offered by reducing metadata to individual components, there’s no such thing as a metadatum.

Meta comes from the Latin meta cone (turning post) which, in ancient Rome was a column or post, placed at each end of a racetrack to mark the turning places and Meta, as an independent word in English was first recorded in 1875.  In English, meta’s meaning is derived from the Ancient Greek μετά (with, after, alongside, on top of, beyond).  With its wide range of meanings, meta appears in many loanwords from Greek, with the meanings such as “after”, “along with”, “beyond”, and “among,”, the prefix added to the name of a subject and designating another subject that analyses the original one but at a more abstract or higher level.  Related are the Old English mið or mith, German mit, Gothic miþ and Old Norse meth.  In modern use, outside of computer science, it’s something with refers to itself, especially in self-parodying manner.  The notion of "changing places with" probably led to senses "change of place, order, or nature," which was a principal meaning of the Greek word when used as a prefix but which didn’t endure in English.  Other languages picked up the word with localised adaptions: metadados, metadatan, metadatat, metadatahantering, metadataschema and metadatastruktur are all early twentieth-century creations.

Meta’s third sense is defined as "higher than, transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of," exits probably because of a misinterpretation of metaphysics as "science of that which transcends the physical."  This has led to the prodigious erroneous extension in modern use, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines.  It’s especially loved by people like pop-music and movie critics who adopt the academic jargon of literary criticism and affix it whenever possible, particularly, one suspects, when writing about foreign film.

Of Metadata

Metadata is simply data about data and broadly, there are three distinct types: descriptive, structural and administrative metadata.  Descriptive metadata describes a resource for purposes such as discovery and identification and can include elements such as the title, abstract, author and keywords.  Structural metadata is about containers of data and indicates how compound objects are put together such as the way pages are ordered to form chapters.  It describes the types, versions, relationships and other characteristics of digital materials.  Administrative metadata provides information to help manage a resource, such as when and how it was created, file type and other technical information, and rights of access.

The usual sources cite a variety of dates when the word metadata first appeared but all agree it’s an early twenty-first century construction, the most useful metaphor probably the index card from the old days of libraries when only printed material was stored.  An index card would contain what would now be understood as a book’s metadata: author, title, publisher, date of publication, ISBN, number of pages etc.  Interest in the concept by the computer industry increased during the 1980s when the volume of information stored in formats which couldn’t easily be indexed began greatly to grow.  Unlike text, which was inherently easy to index, stuff stored in pixel formats such as images or videos could easily be referenced only by things of limited utility, like file-names or creation date.  The growth of metadata was thus both technologically and behaviorally deterministic, actual metadata varying according to the data referenced.  The metadata of an image might contain information about camera model, lens type and exposure whereas software binaries might include internal revision numbers, compiler versions and external dependency links.

Three wise men, Australian experts in metadata.  George Brandis QC (b 1957; attorney-general-2013-2017), Eric Abetz (b 1958; Liberal Party minister 2001-2007 & 2013-2015) and Tony Abbott (b 1957; prime-minister 2013-2015).

For those unaccustomed to data-handling and the protocols of digital-storage, the idea of metadata could be difficult to visualize.  Unfortunately, those a bit baffled included some of the politicians who were passing laws imposing on internet service providers (ISPs) and others a mandated requirement to retain and subsequently make available to the authorities the metadata referencing the internet use of their customers.  Seeking clarity about the government’s new metadata retention laws, Sky News on 24 June 2014 interviewed the then attorney-general, George Brandis QC and the discussion was certainly revealing.  It appears someone had briefed the attorney that a good metaphor for the relationship between metadata and the referenced data was that between the addresses of sender and receiver written on an envelope (which could be read by anyone) and the letter inside which could be read only the recipient.  That was good, to the extent it was, but Senator Brandis seemed to think it meant the government could simultaneously record the web addresses (URLs) accessed by people yet have no idea of the content viewed.  There was a pythonesque quality to the interview.

George Brandis QC explains metadata: Edited highlights.

Much ado about meta

A photograph of Lindsay Lohan created 10 February 2017 with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III.  The full metadata appears below.

Facebook’s decision to adopt the brand-name Meta for its holding company aroused some interest along with much fear and loathing.  It does seem a commonsense change given the company’s plans to expand its activities in ways where a brand-name associated with something as specific as a social media platform might not be helpful.  The name Facebook has much history and a niche so defined it might be difficult to nudge perceptions whereas the hope is that meta will come somehow to define whatever it is Meta wishes to be thought of as doing.  Most obviously, that will include the metaverse which, despite the company’s explanations, remains mysterious.  The term metaverse appeared first in Neil Stephenson’s (b 1959) well-received novel Snow Crash (1992) which existed somewhere in the genre of science-fiction, the framework of which was two parallel worlds, physical reality and the on-line, virtual Metaverse.  The Facebook folk presumably read and understood Snow Crash in which the Metaverse is a tool of corporations and beset with corruption, secrecy and exploitation so hopes are that either they have a feeling for irony or they don’t take SF too seriously.

The metadata associated with Lindsay Lohan's photograph.

The possibly cultivated sense of mystery may not be deliberate but may be unavoidable given what Meta plans to do is no different from what would anyway have been done under the Facebook banner which had long been described as the "Facebook ecosystem".  Anyway, the metaverse is said to be something which spans the physical and digital worlds, something which has been the ongoing project of many for some decades and anything Meta has said so far doesn’t suggest anything new in their plans so while the metaverse is perhaps less interesting than some may have hoped, it’s also less threatening than some seem to have feared.  Like Facebook therefore although it's not fair to say it just a piece of re-branding.  The vision is of the internet in 3D with which users will interact through one or more avatars through abstraction layers created by adding to the long-familiar 2D environment a mixture of augmented & virtual reality (AR & VR).  The long-term plan is for the early-adopters to spend hours, days, weeks, months, years etc with the bulky hardware attached to their heads, the data harvested from their interactions training the AI software to be ready for a time when the required devices will no longer be large and heavy and may not even be external.  Assuming a critical mass of users of the desirable demographics find such an ecosystem addictively compelling, it's be a valuable space for a company to dominate.      

The concept of the digital ecosystems is well-understood and one is most valuable in the sense of revenue maximization when the number of users can be both increased and encouraged to stay, making a particular ecosystem their entire online environment.  This is done by giving people what they want and because a high percentage of people want a great volume with surprisingly little variation of type, possibilities exist.  Most people want to do a small range of things on-line, some of which are but variations on others, even much of what is fed to people as news is packaged in a way that it becomes just another form of the entertainment which is the overwhelming bulk of what’s consumed. 

Meta’s metaverse is just the latest attempt to corner an audience in the way that Amazon became a sort of shopping metaverse but the Microsoft Network is the classic case-study of the limits of what’s possible when ambitions are cast adrift from the moorings of behavioral reality.  In the early 1990s, in the days of dial-up connections and bulletin boards, Microsoft launched its own online service with the aim of supplanting the then-dominant CompuServe.  The Microsoft network (MSN) was conceived as a "closed system” with all content stored and maintained by Microsoft, access available only to paying subscribers.  The universe however was about to shift and the availability of browsers, useable by real people and not just nerds, easily to view the growing content of the internet via the world wide web (which recently had been bolted atop) was a momentous change to what on-line meant and rapidly the internet displaced the old private networks.  Had it been a company without the resources and critical-mass of Microsoft, the shock would immediately have been fatal to the project but Microsoft was able to persist, MSN an integral part of the much vaunted Windows 95, both debuting in August 1995.  Typically, the way Microsoft integrated the sign-up process into the Windows interface attracted the interest of competitors and the inevitable anti-trust action began even before the release.  Incredible as it now sounds, such was the faith in the proprietary MSN model that Microsoft by default didn't load the IP stack or include an internet browser with the early build Windows 95, responding only later to pressure with a more expensive version of the operating system with which one was bundled or a stand-alone installation which sold for a then expensive US$49.95.

The Justice Department need not have bothered with their investigation.  Although MSM did attract subscribers, fewer than 8% of Windows 95 users availed themselves of the easy one-click access; interest in the web was much greater.  By 1996, MSM had become a web-based service and Microsoft devoted much money (reportedly well over a US$ billion at a time when a billion dollars was still a lot of money) to making it the complete environment which users would never have to leave; the metaverse of its day.  It never worked although the purchase of hotmail for a then impressive U$400 million proved a useful platform on which things could be built.  By 1998 MSN was just another place to visit on the internet.