Overview

This final chapter considers metadata in a political context. It considers three aspects of its role in society and speculates on possible future developments. There is the ethical strand, an increasingly important considerations for those involved anywhere in the information communication chain (Robinson, 2009). It also considers where the power lies in both professional and subject domain terms and which professional groups are best equipped to develop and implement metadata standards. This section speculates on the role of metadata in the creation of new knowledge – a holy grail that has so far eluded the most advanced machine learning environments. Finally it considers the practicalities of funding. There is a huge industry dependent on metadata about online transactions, for instance. This forms the basis of digital marketing and the revenue streams for some of the largest incorporated companies, such as Alphabet (Google) and Facebook. This also raises the issue of who pays for the creation of new metadata standards, and who funds the creation of metadata on a massive scale (all those digitisation projects). Throughout, the chapter speculates on the future development and role of metadata.