Metadata is the holy grail for improving search, according to its advocates. Garbage! replies one critic, detailing seven reasons while even the most promising metadata schemes will fail.
If you've ever tried to improve your web site's search engine rankings, you've probably fiddled with your keyword and description meta tags. This metadata, or data about the information on the page, ostensibly tells the search engine what's important on the page.
The problem is, spammers love meta tags, and search engines don't really pay all that much attention to them any more.
Several groups have proposed advanced metadata standards that could ameliorate the problems with simple meta tags, and theoretically improve search. These standards include the Dublin core, RDF and its flavors like XML, SMIL and others. Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web, even goes so far to say that these standards will enable the Semantic web, where machines will be able to communicate with each other without human intervention.
Bah! Humbug! says Cory Doctorow. Cory has published an interesting paper spelling out with wickedly pointed humor why metadata won't work -- at least in a public arena like the web. Lest you think this is mere sycophantic muttering, consider that Cory is the founder of Open Cola, a company building collaborative search software that holds serious promise for changing the way we search.
Many thanks to Monnie Nilsson Grosjean -- the smartest person I know -- for bringing this to my attention.
Putting the Torch to Seven Straw-Men of the Meta-Utopia
http://www.well.com/˜doctorow/metacrap.htm
Cory Doctorow's treatise on why metadata won't work. Warning: Contains opinionated and graphic language -- and is not necessarily the opinion of SearchDay's editor, Chris Sherman.
Open Cola
http://www.opencola.com/
More information about the "Folders" P2P search product developed by Open Cola founder Cory Doctorow.
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