shimenawa - Latest comments on An index is data too

In response to: An index is data too

Joseph J. Esposito [Visitor] — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:51:01 +0000

This is a very interesting post. I have a question about one aspect of it, the idea that the amount of information is growing at a rate that eclipses our ability to index it. Does this phenomenon have a name? I have casually referred to it as "the Tristram Shandy effect," after the 18th-century novel by Laurence Sterne. Sterne/Shandy discovered that it was taking him longer to write his autobiography than it took to live his life.

In response to: An index is data too

Jonathan Rochkind [Visitor] — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:13:55 +0000

Agreed.

I had a thought a while ago that 'metadata' is just perspective on 'data', not a quality of the data itself. Or, to put it another way, 'Metadata' vs 'data' are contingent (contextual, based on your perspective) not existential (inherent in the thing itself) categories.

One person's data is another person's metadata, and vice versa.

Most people disagree with me when I bring it up, but the more I think about it and the more things develop, the more true it seems.