While this is helpful information, it is only a fraction of what is needed to efficiently manage and access very large datasets. The IA proposes to assist the user with a search metaphor which offers at a minimum keyword searches, user defined concept searches, an iconic representation of the data for display, a synopsis, and where feasible, a full-text search, see Figure 1. A goal is to assist the user in determining whether the data is of interest or not without having to retrieve the data itself. There are many unsolved problems with the view of metadata shown above. Issues such as managing the links between various metadata, navigating metadata and keeping metadata in sync with the data are all problems that are not easily solved.
Further work is necessary to determine how applications define and use metadata.
In addition to user interface improvements, there are a number of potential uses for system-level metadata by hierarchical storage systems. The use of system- level metadata can increase the performance of the system and productivity of the hierarchical storage system user. This is only a portion of what is necessary to address data management problems. Data storage and retrieval, based upon future data access patterns can enable more intelligent placement of the data on media. Placing data that are accessed together on the same physical volume eliminates the need to mount multiple volumes when accessing the data.