Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE Cory Doctorow explains why metadata (data about data) fails in this article. According to him, there are "insurmountable obstacles between the world as we know it and meta-utopia":
- People lie - People are lazy : even though we understand the importance of creating and maintaining excellent metadata for our information, we don't take time to create metadata - People are stupid : Even when there's a positive benefit to creating good metadata, people steadfastly refuse to exercise care and diligence in their metadata creation. - Mission: Impossible -- know thyself : People are lousy observers of their own behaviors - Schemas aren't neutral : The conceit that competing interests can come to easy accord on a common vocabulary totally ignores the power of organizing principles in a marketplace. - Metrics influence results - There's more than one way to describe something : Reasonable people can disagree forever on how to describe something.
I really like this kind of quote :"You and me are engaged in the incredibly serious business of creating information."