Metadata Systems: Integrative Information Technologies
Mark S. Madsen, Iain Fogg, CLIVE RUGGLESS · Libri · 1994
Metadata systems are concerned with the management of data which describes other data (datasets, catalogues or actual database management systems) and are presently the subject of intensive research. Metadata systems can be used to store richly detailed forms of information, peform seamless wide-randing searches of information distributed across networks, and to integrate information stored in disparate repositories. Here we describe a model design and the methods of implementation derived from the experience of the Leicester University Metadata Project. Our approach utilises the incorporation of semantic metadata in addition to resource metadata, resulting in a generally more powerful system than existing global directory services. A feature of the class of design presented here is flexibility of implementation, with the ability to provide a coherent metadata system functioning above heterogeneous autonomous distributed databases