The format data is stored in is an important consideration. Different applications represent the same data in different ways. Proprietary formats such as Microsoft Word's DOC lose information when opened in applications such as Notepad, as the image below shows. Metadata, and semantic mark-up in particular, must be considered from the point of data creation to ensure the information is imbued with meaning and is interoperable across a wide variety of applications and platforms.
The document-centred view of data is useful as files are embedded in documents, so a single file stored centrally can be part of many different documents. Duplicate copies of the original file need not be made, and updates to the original file are reflected automatically. This is vital for my job at Leeds University Library. When creating tutorials with specialist software such as Articulate, I embed them in Powerpoint documents, ensuring information is correctly displayed on PCs which lack the specialist software.
Lastly, when storing files, consideration must be given to file names and folder organisation. What is meaningful at the time of creation often differs from what is meaningful at the time of retrieval. Information may be created in a piecemeal manner, but considering organisation from the outset saves time and effort. The image below shows how I have used knowledge from this week's exercise to organise my folder for this module.
The most pertinent lesson I learned from this week's exercises is that anyone creating digital information is their own information manager. Learning how to organise, manage and represent intangible digital information to best exploit it is empowering.
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