When I came across the term “metadata”, my initial thought was, “That sounds like something complicated.” However, after learning about metadata for this weak’s reading, I realized how important metadata is in today’s society and digital age. To put it simply, metadata is information about other data. Whatever that information is, its function is to describe, explain, locate, and facilitate the retrieval, use or management of resources. Therefore, without metadata, surfing the web and leisurely tasks such as looking up an artist or song title become almost impossible. For today’s post, I wanted to discuss how I encountered metadata when I was looking to buy a used motorcycle on craigslist.
Craigslist.org is a classified advertisement website where people post goods and services for something in return. Over this past weekend, I was looking to buy a used motorcycle so that I can commute from home to school and back without spending too much money on gas, parking, etc. I thought that a motorcycle, although more dangerous, would fit my needs better than a car. I didn’t have that much money to spend so I went on craigslist to find a good deal on a motorcycle. Of course, like any other search engine, one would have to type in the item that he wants into the search engine. Here, metadata is at work for the purposes of discovering new information. In this case, it facilitates the identification of all the different possible sellers of that specific item. In the reading, this was called “descriptive metadata” which is one of three types of metadata. Descriptive metadata can include elements such as title, abstract, author, and keywords.
Through my endeavors to find a motorcycle on craigslist, I was able to see how metadata made my search experience a lot easier. Not only was I able to type in the different models of the motorcycle that I wanted but I also was able to narrow down my searches and filter certain descriptions in order to find the perfect item for my individual need. For example, I was able to set a minimum and maximum price rage, click a checkbox for certain parts, and even filter out the posts without pictures. Since the search can get very specific, most sellers implement “metatags” so that their item will appear on various search specific results. I included a picture of what I mean on this post. In the bottom of the seller’s post, the seller would add keywords of popular motorcycle companies, the model, the year, and type even though it wasn’t the motorcycle that they were selling. They did this so that their ad will show up in different searches which results in a larger target audience.