Your word for the day is "reification." I'll explain. This useful essay looks at the practical implementation of metadata for learning objects. One of the myths it tackles is the idea that metadata must be objective, that is, known to be true of the object it describes (you hear this over and over: how can you know the metadata is quality metadata). The idea of reification is that you record not only what was said about the learning object but also who said it. Thus instead of saying "This object is excellent" the metadata says "This object is excellent according to the author" (and elsewhere, "This object is not so excellent according to Downes"). OK, that's just the first stage in developing a metadata ecosystem built upon layers of schemas (exactly what I propose as well). The new uses of metadata - certification, annotation, extension, reuse - are exactly what I have been describing in recent talks. Read this paper. Read this paper!
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