The Web is filled with information. What's missing is data that describes the data - metadata.
As envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee (see "The Father of the Web," Wired 5.03, page 140), metadata would be a machine understandable set of standards for describing data. This would enable Web functions like ratings and comparison shopping. Music retailers, for example, could create a standard set of HTTP queries for searching all music databases on the Web.The World Wide Web Consortium heads up several metadata efforts, such as the PICS project for labeling content and the Digital Signature Initiative.
"The objective is an automatable Web," Berners-Lee says. "It could have a very revolutionary effect."
ELECTRIC WORD
If They Come, We Will Build It
Reed Hundt: The Next Five Years
Tim Berners-Lee's Metadata
