Stu Carty is an accomplished, international meta-data solutions expert with over 20 years progressive experience in the enterprise software industry. Carty has worked for notable meta-data software companies such as Informatica, Data Advantage Group, R&O Software, Manager Software Products, and Reltech Group. Stu has personally given over one thousand presentations & training workshops to Global 5000 companies on enterprise meta-data management and has successfully helped hundreds of companies to evaluate, select, and implement meta-data management solutions. Stu Carty is the Founder and Principal of Gavilan Research Associates, a consulting and research firm dedicated to helping companies better evaluate and implement meta-data software solutions. For more information about Gavilan Research, please visit http://www.metadataresearch.com
The term "metadata" has been used for many years now. It dates back to the 60’s, 70's and 80's, when "metadata" was used to describe the COBOL, VSAM, and IMS copybooks that ran on IBM mainframe systems. In those days, Fortune 2000 companies would purchase and implement something called a "corporate data dictionary" to help them better manage their copybook definitions, generate COBOL records and DDL, etc ... Today, the corporate data dictionary has evolved into what we now call an "enterprise metadata repository" or "metadata management system". The term "metadata" was also embraced and popularized by industry groups such as DAMA, and by software vendor initiatives from IBM (AD/Cycle), Microsoft, OMG/CWM, CDIF, and others. The term "metadata" is also widely used within the geospatial, document management, and military software markets.
In this modern age of trademark and copyright enforcement, we all need to be careful in our public use of the term "metadata" (notice the exact spelling). The term "metadata" is copyrighted and trademarked by Metadata, LLC of Nashville, TN. (www.metadata.com). Formerly known as Metadata Information Partners, it is a software firm specializing in data management products, consulting, and custom information systems to the health care industry. Although the term "metadata", spelled the same way, is widely used to refer to "data about data", Metadata LLC trademarked the name in 1986 and was granted "incontestable" status in 1991. So there is always the threat that if we publicly use the term "metadata" the company could pursue their trademark enforcement. The most common substitutions for "metadata" we see today are "meta-data" or "meta data". I encourage you to pick one term and use it consistently in all your corporate communications. (I need to remind myself to do this, so I always try to use the hyphenated version "meta-data".)
Why all this fuss ? The enterprise management of meta-data is more important than ever. The continued evolution (and proliferation) of development tools, database systems, operating platforms, programming languages, and advanced technologies has made it more important than ever for an organization to effectively inventory and manage its corporate information assets and meta-data definitions. At Gavilan Research Associates, we help companies to evaluate and select enterprise technology solutions, including meta-data management products. We also research and collect meta-data usage trends across Global 5000 companies and meta-data vendor capabilities.
In conclusion – be careful ! :>) We need to make sure we use the right "metadata" to spell "meta-data".