Meta data

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Data about data. In data processing, meta-data is definitional data that provides information about or documentation of other data managed within an application or environment.
For example, meta-data would document data about data elements or attributes, (name, size, data type, etc) and data about records or data structures (length, fields, columns, etc) and data about data (where it is located, how it is associated, ownership, etc.). Meta-data may include descriptive information about the context, quality and condition, or characteristics of the data.
[thefreedictionary.com, 2004]


Metadata is ”data about data” which allows computers to process information more effectively.
[Dmoz, 2004]


{{Quotation|Meta-data are data behind data, coming after the primary data, as in the sense of Aristoteles' book on metaphysis being the book coming after the his books of physics. In the more common sense of today, meta-data has mainly two meanings, three applications, and four requirements to fulfill for the IEEE reference model: That are the two meanings

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