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I remember seeing, in a user-friendly intro to metadata somewhere (perhaps on the CETIS site), a 'tin can' analogy for metadata. Metadata is the label on the can which tells you what's in it, what it's made from, how you can use it, and who produced it, and without it you'd have no idea whether the can contained chicken soup or cyanide concentrate until you actually opened it. This may seem simplistic, but if you start going into the intricate technical details of what does and doesn't constitute metadata, you tie a Gordian knot of such complexity even a cataloguer/librarian won't be able to unravel it. Writing as an IT/e-learning techie who knows virtually 0 about 'information science' and cataloguing, I'd recommend keeping the definition simple enough for Joe and Jane academic to understand, because it's they who're going to be using the metadata to find stuff or, if they're unlucky, putting the metadata in themselves. Just my 2 Euros worth. Ok, back to lurking... Cheers Fred Fred Riley Learning Technologist Room C57, School of Nursing University of Nottingham Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham NG7 2HA Tel: +44 (0)115 92 49924 ext 37180 http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nursing/staff/support-staff/fred_riley.html This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses, which could damage your computer system: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.