I'd like to add a couple of points on this subject.
First, I think it is slightly skewed to think that the search engines as
they now exist will have a major impact on the deployment of metadata on the
net. They certainly could influence things, but I see several salient
factors here:
1. Intentionally misleading, author-created metadata tags are already a
problem on the net. So-called "Index Spamming" is intended to make it more
likely for search engines to rank a resource high in a result set. I am
given to understand that the search engines have ongoing efforts to filter
such problems, but may pay less attention to metadata as a result of the
difficulties this causes.
2. Point 1 notwithstanding, if I were a search engine developer, I would be
reluctant to commit resources to accomodating meta tags until there was a
clear business case for doing so. The amount of extant metadata embedded in
resources is still quite low (this is, I think, at the root of Andrew's
enquiry).
3. The quality and consistency of managed collections of metadata (provided
by organizations with a clear interest in reliable metadata, such as
libraries, museums, government agencies, publishers, etc.) is always likely
to be higher than harvested metadata of unknown provenance. As Web business
models evolve, I expect this quality differential to become increasingly
important. It is already true. according to an article in Science magazine
in early 1998, that none of the search systems cover more than about a third
of publically available web resources. It is also interesting to note that
the most popular service... Yahoo (sorry, but I can't bring myself to use
the exclamation point)... is also the one with the smallest number of
resources... a tiny fraction of the others. Why? Well, good marketing
surely has helped them, but my judgement is that it is due to their use of a
classification system (such as it is).
Bring on the metadata.
stu
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Wilson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 1998 7:07 PM
To: 'DC'
Subject: Search engines
I have a general enquiry I'd like to throw open to the whole list. If
this has been dealt with before, I apologise in advance for going over
old ground.
As understand it none of the search engines accessible on the web
(Yahoo, Alta Vista, Excite, Infoseek, etc.) will actually read DC meta
tags. Since its fairly obvious that search engines which use metadata
will be critical to uptake and successful deployment of metadata schemas
I'm wondering if there is any ongoing dialogue between the DC community
and the search engine developers. Both communities are primarily based
in North America so it would seem like a reasonable step. Can anyone
tell me what is happening and how much progress has been made with
getting search engine developers to start working on search engines that
actually read and understand metadata embedded in web pages?
thanks,
Andrew Wilson
National Archives of Australia
Email: [log in to unmask]
Ph: +61 2 6212 3694
Fax: + 61 2 6212 3997
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