The management of digital data: A metadata approach

Abstract

We are increasingly reliant on information technology for data exchange and long‐term data storage. For this global environment, we need a universal data management system. The use of metadata to manage data is key to this objective. The research of which this paper is a preliminary description and analysis, conducted in the Department of Information and Library Studies at Loughborough University, is investigating the potential of the metadata concept as the key to universal data management. The research specifically explores the attitudes of information professionals in the United Kingdom to these issues. The paper considers the reasons for preserving digital data, the role of metadata in this preservation, and the attitudes of, and challenges facing, a diversity of organisations in which digital data has to be preserved. The preliminary findings suggest the need for a unified yet flexible system which will allow interoperability between existing and future metadata formats. A system of super‐metadata would draw on the strengths of expertise across the width of the information community.

Citation

Chilvers, A. and Feather, J. (1998), "The management of digital data: A metadata approach", The Electronic Library, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 365-372. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045663