(INFLIBNET Centre, 2006-02-02) Bhattacharya, Sanat
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.