Friday, March 07, 2003

Semantic Zooming

A Passion for Metadata "Semantic zooming changes the shape or context in which the information is being presented. An example of this type of technique is the use of a digital clock within an application. In a normal view, the clock may show the hour of the day and date. If the user zooms in then the clock may alter it’s appearance by adding the seconds and minutes. If the user that zooms out, information is discarded with only the date remaining. The actual information did not change, only the presentation method.

What does this have to do with Metadata? The answer is everything. If a user begins to review information at the system level and then drills down, we don’t just add more details about the system. We add interfaces, components and data. If the user drills into the data then we will add the logical, conceptual and physical views of the data. We are actually altering the view in hopes to increase the understanding of the information being presented."

There's also a lot on how they approach selling metadata management to corporate departments.

No comments: