Metadata consist of a description and a reference. The quality of metadata improves when the descriptions:

1. do not only mention the subject (what is the information about?) but also explain
   • who will benefit from the information
   • when, in what conditions, the reader can benefit from the information
   • what goal the reader can achieve with the information
2. are clear. Your target audience must know exactly what is meant by the description. The description is not too abstract nor too specific. "car" is more clear than "means of transportation".
3. only mention what the information explains. The description should not mention what topics "Have-to-do-with" the information, because everything has to do with everything. The description in the metadata should only mention what is explained in the information. See the acm.org guidelines, especially step 6.

The quality of metadata improves when the references:

1. point only to useful information. The most important difference between metadata and the result of a search engine lies in the quality of the references. Leave out everything that does not help.
2. are complete; the metadata contain references to all information necessary for the reader to reach his(her) goal

How to improve metadata?

When you want to improve the quality of your metadata:

1. Make all choices based on the observation and analysis of the reader. What the reader thinks, rules.
2. Test your metadata in a usability test. On this site you will find "How to measure the performance of the reader?" and "How to test information retrieval?".
3. Organize the metadata in a good (tested) structure:
   • A flat organization (e.g. startkabel.nl)
   • A hierarchy, sometimes combined with related-categories (e.g. the Open Directory Project)
   • Multiple dimensions where one piece of information has values on each dimension (e.g. faceted interfaces like in the flamenco project at the university of Berkeley)
   • Topic Maps
   • Others (RDF, OWL, etc.)
4. Improve only what needs to be improved. If the quality and speed of finding information is acceptable, it is good enough

1. Start small. Do not make big investments without being sure your effort is paying off.
2. Observe your readers. Try it out! You learn immensely from observing readers. Observations make you aware of things you never thought of.
3. Do not think everybody is different. Most readers think similarly.
4. Have guts. Always question who will benefit from the information. If there are no benefits, do not refer to this information. More information hurts the reader. Less is better.
5. Be honest. Known excuses for incorporating references in your metadata are: "the information is ...
   • extra information"
   • background information"
   • general information"
   • an introduction"
   • nice-to-know"
     Be alarmed if you see any one of these reasons. Most of the time they refer to information the reader can do without. Ask yourself: "What would happen if the reader would not have this information?"