Here’s another reason why metadata matters – O’Reilly Radar.

While putting the newShowYou video aggregation app through its paces I was struck once again by the importance of titles, descriptions, and other forms of metadata. Take a look at this screenshot:

; width: 580px; height: auto; font-style: italic; text-align: left; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #dddddd;”>

Screenshot from theShowYou iPad app.

What the heck am I supposed to click on? Where are the entry points? Some of the images are intriguing, but the vague titles don’t answer the single most important question:Why should I spend time and energy on this?

This is partially an interface issue, but I place most of the blame on content creators. Many of us have bad metadata habits.

I don’t get any real joy out of writing headlines, subheads, and excerpts. Tagging, while easy, is still a mind-numbing chore. But I force myself to do these things because I want the content I manage to be seen. That’s the point, after all. Metadata helps with that

Continues @http://radar.oreilly.com