definition
strict definition
metadata
Terms which pertain to the organization of data, either visible or internal.
Metadata covers anything which describes data internally or which supports it and lends validity to it.
Metadata describes the data and its support rather than only the physical object that the data concerns. A date can establish when a value applied or when it was entered.
A source type concerns the origin and reliability of information, while a data class concerns the difficulty of researching a field and its protection. Those descriptions can accompany the same substantive fact.