Click to learn more about author Janine Joseph.

I have always told people that Metadata is not just something we should be aware of at work, but rather, it’s something we interact with on a day-to-day basis. Don’t believe me? Well, really look at the grocery store next time you need to buy milk. You won’t find it in the frozen food section and you won’t find it by dog food for reasons that have a lot to do with Metadata.

I’ve also always told people that out-of-date Metadata is worse than not having Metadata at all. Why? Because people will make decisions based on the Metadata they do have. I hope it’s obvious, but this can cause all sorts of problems.

Recently these two items collided in my personal life and I felt it was a good story to share with like-minded Data Management professionals. While digging through boxes of old family photos I found two audio tapes. I was pretty sure I knew what was on these tapes because they were labeled with valuable, family information. I couldn’t believe my luck! These were going to be wonderful gifts to give my siblings. With great enthusiasm I took them to the shop for transfer to CD and thought about all the fun we were going to have listening to this material 30 years after they were recorded.

After weeks of waiting my CD’s were ready. I gladly paid over $100 for the CD’s. What’s $100 when you are talking about cherished family memories? I played the first disc immediately and I couldn’t believe my ears. What was on the label and what was contained on those tapes were two different things. I expected to hear the voices of my youth pop out at me. I could once again hear dear voices of long lost relatives. It would be an amazing gift and something my family would treasure. Yes, this is what I thought I would find when I listened to the CD. But what I actually paid $100 for was a warbled audio recording of a TV episode of “The Undersea World of Jacque Cousteau.” No, I’m not clever enough to make that up. It is the sad truth.

Once I got over the disappointment of this event, I could laugh about it with my siblings. My Data Management thoughts came shortly afterwards. Did you see all of them in the information above? The labels were basically Metadata. The enthusiasm and value I felt I would get for this material outweighed the cost. Isn’t this what most executives would say about how they fund a project? Were my expectations realized? Obviously they were not, mostly due to the fact that someone long ago put the wrong audio tape with that label. Bad Metadata was worse than no Metdata in my real life – just as it would be at work. $100 is enough of a loss that I felt it was money very poorly spent. Money I can’t spend on something more worthwhile, and I waited almost two months to get the CD’s. All that time my expectations were set, so the disappointment of the reality was enlarged.

Have I made my case for how Metadata needs to be kept current and is used every day – at work and at home? I hope so! I’m sure many of you have similar stories to tell. Anyone else want to share them?