[Zope] what is metadata?

[Jason Cunliffe]

Milos

Metadata is data about data.
Hopefully it is structured in a useful way.
This means just about everything can be considered to be metadata in some
context.

In Zope a simple example might be that you want to store large image files
outside of Zope's own database, the ZODB. There are several tools to do
this. LocalFS and ExtFile Zope Products both allow to store images [or any
file ] elsewhere in the server's regular file system.

These files are themselves sets of data carefully structured according to
thier file type, .jpeg, .png, .pdf etc..

But inside Zope you want to keep simple metadata about those files, such as:
path, filename, type, author, width, height, size_Kb, datetime_uploaded,
author, etc.

You might call these properties or attributes of the source data [object].

Now suppose you want to store some 'higher level' data such as: number of
.jpeg files or the name email of the author of the file containing scan of a
photograph of the view from his window overlooking the house that jack built
in the same street where another man named Milos later asked a question
about zope metadata which was then answered in strange way by ...

./Jason
___________________________________________________________
Jason CUNLIFFE = NOMADICS['Interactive Art and Technology']

PS:

LocalFS
http://www.zope.org/Members/jfarr/Products/LocalFS

ExtFile
http://www.zope.org/Members/MacGregor/ExtFile
The ExtFile/ExtImage Product stores a file externally in the filesystem and
keeps only meta data in the Zope Database. The file is stored in an external
file repository and is accessible via its corresponding Zope object.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Milos Prudek" <milos.prudek@worldonline.cz>
To: <zope@zope.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 8:46 AM
Subject: [Zope] what is metadata?


> Hi all,
>
> I see references to "metadata" in Zope Book and this mailing list, but
> no explanation what this actually means. Could you please give me a few
> examples of metadata in Zope, and definition of what is metadata?
>
> --
> Milos