Metadata in publishing

          The connection between bodies, data and publishing are important in data visualisation and distribution or aggregation.  In this case, bodies can be described as the source of data. First of all, data are extracted from a like range of literatures like books, newspaper, government annual report, and case study. Data are also available online from websites and blogs.
         
         The process of finding useful information from a large database is known as data mining (An Introduction to Data Mining 2010).However, it is important to point out here that the sources of information  determine whether the data is reliable or not. It is inappropriate to make a research by based on facts from a personal blog. Government websites such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics is probably the most reliable sources for available online. In the case of published literature, it has to be peer-reviewed by the expertise in the area.

          Then, data are stored in archive. Usually, digital information are often saved in the hard drives of computer, whereas useful hard copies of publications are gathered together and being keep in one place. In this context, digital data can be retrieved easily and more organized compared to its hard copy. However, the soft copy of information is exposed to threat such as virus, malware, and malfunction of drive failure. On top of that, the concept of archive fever suggests that data are being modified and altered frequently. This would eliminate the links between information and eventually loss its meaning.   In addition, hard copies of information are vulnerable to physical risk like fire and termites. The best solution is to keep data in both forms.     

          Next, as various forms of data are assembled together, metadata is formed. Probably one of the important concepts put forward in the lecture this week is metadata. Generally, metadata can be defined as data within data or information about other information. One good explanation about metadata is it describes, explains, locates, and assists in data retrieval, facilitate discovery of relevant information, organize electronic resource, as well as managing information resource (Guenther, R. &Radebaugh, J. 2001).     

          Another point mentioned in the lecture is metadata could produce new forms of expression/content and distribution/aggregation. In this context, metadata generate new systems of visualizing and communicating data to the public. Besides, varieties in the form of expression influence our social engagement with the information being presented. A good example is the representation of information about the threat of rising sea level which can be accessed through this link:-

                http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/when-sea-levels-attack/

This video gives a brief explanation about metadata and its application in business sector. In most cases, we did not realise the application of metadata in simple things around us, which can serve as the base for us to understand this concept.  

References:-

Guenther, R. &Radebaugh, J. 2001, Metadata Made Simpler , A guide for libraries, NGO Press

An Introduction to Data Mining 2010, accessed 11 May 2011 <http://www.thearling.com/text/dmwhite/dmwhite.htm >