Metadata Harvesting

Abstract

One of the key challenges facing information managers today is the need to inter-relate different sources and types of Information, whether it be in an internet search across a range of resources with different formats, data structures and description standards or an ecommerce system that needs to exchange data between proprietary applications in order to complete a transaction. Understanding the structure of the data allows this to occur and metadata is the means by which this happens. Using metadata to record data about Information sources allows an initial assessment of compatibility and provides an avenue for merging information or for exchanging Information between systems. In other wards the concept of “interoperability” has become a major theme for information managers and ultimately for users.