A Perspective Piece by Robert S. Seiner

When I was in elementary school, I always excelled at spelling. I can remember third grade spelling bees where the best spellers won prizes valued from a dime to a quarter. To me this was exciting. I tried very hard (and I still try very hard) to spell properly.

Thanks to Microsoft Word and the other word processing packages, we get red squiggly lines under misspelled words to highlight when we have made an error. If you see misspelled words in the newsletter, let me know and I will change my settings from "red squiggly lines" to "sirens and 2x4 smackings" to make me aware of my errors.

Recently I have had a problem with one word that I can't seem to get correct. (Or is it two words?) The word that I am talking about is metadata or meta data or meta-data. I can't seem to please my PC or laptop with a correct spelling. Or … Is there even a correct spelling?

We in the data management industry spell the word for "data about data" the three ways demonstrated above. So do the major data management publications, sometimes inter-changing the spellings within the same article or column. You'd think that data professionals that stress standards in many aspects of our business could select a single spelling that would satisfy the masses. Yet we can't.

Is there reason to pick a single way to spell the word? We all know what is meant by meta-data (my new way to spell the word - better go back and change all of my old articles). Some data professionals spend more time worrying about how to spell meta-data than we spend managing meta-data in our companies.

Meta-data is one of the most valuable yet most neglected resources available to business and technical professionals. Meta-data plays a considerable role in business intelligence and data warehousing success. Meta-data plays a role in application development success. Meta-data plays a role in reducing data redundancy and improving data quality. And meta-data plays a role in the success of the database administrator (see my article "DBAs Don't Need Meta-Data" in TDAN.com).

Even with "data about data" playing a major role in the vitality and success of companies and IRM organizations, managing meta-data is treated as an after-thought. Or as Bill Inmon started a Data Management Review Enterprise Meta Data article years ago (11/98), "Meta data has long been the Wednesday's child of information processing systems." Also stated in this same article, "It is meta data that holds the key to the context of data." [Mr. Inmon spells meta-data as meta data.]

So the questions remain. What will it take to get meta-data over the top? What are the differences between the companies that put resources toward meta-data management and those that say they understand the importance but don't provide resources to improve meta-data management? To these questions there are no easy answers. Simply put, "You've got to pay to play."

My guess is that we have just scratched the surface of understanding the role that meta-data will play in our organizations and that meta-data management will become even more important over the coming months and years. From all indications - experts, authors, consultants, vendors, and DA professionals are not about to let meta-data management pass as a "fad". If meta-data was a fad, the issue would have been laid to rest years ago. Meta-data will continue to grow in popularity as more and more companies jump on the bandwagon when they realize that they can't be entirely successful without it.

Even if we all spell the word differently.

About the Author

Over the past six years, Robert (Bob) S. Seiner has become recognized as the publisher of The Data Administration Newsletter (TDAN.com), an award winning electronic publication that focuses on sharing information about data, information, content & knowledge management disciplines. Mr. Seiner speaks often at major business intelligence, data management, and knowledge management related conferences and user group meetings across the U.S. He can be reached at the newsletter at rseiner@tdan.com or 412-220-9643 (fax 220-9644).

Mr. Seiner is the Founder & Principal of KIK Consulting & Educational Services, a company that focuses on Consultative Mentoring or teaching company's employees how to better manage and leverage their Data, Information, Content & Knowledge assets. KIK Consulting has developed a Four-Step Method© for Consultative Mentoring that includes Consultation, Observation, Education, and Recommendation. This type of education (a cross between consulting and mentoring) involves customizing industry best practices to work in your environment. Visit KIK Consulting at www.KIKconsulting.com.