Metadata standards for Web-based resources

One problem with all metadata approaches is that they try to be specialized and generic, so they are useful for different scenarios. While the languages for encoding and exchanging the metadata are already available, it will take more time for the industry to agree on a shared vocabulary for the metadata elements and values. Another problem with metadata is supporting all the different user roles that are involved during a resource's production and distribution. Future authoring systems will be able to automatically generate many metadata values and will offer user-friendly ways to provide information without dealing with the encoded metadata directly. Future work in this area will focus on building semantic networks out of single metadata descriptions. Even for the authors of a resource, it is not always easy to provide the adequate information. Establishing a network of resources without being an expert in knowledge building is even harder without appropriate tools that hide the complexity of the underlying models.