Lifehacker has a relatively extensive post on adding in Windows or OS X (primarily the latter) to create an easily searchable metadata cloud for all your files. Probably best for disciplined people, since you have to remember to tag your files with metadata when you work on them, but it's an interesting (and potentially revolutionary) approach, especially if your hierarchical file system has grown so deep that it's become unmanageable.
I'm not the most organized person around, but when it comes to my computer I'm set in my ways of folders within folders within folders. I'd bet you're much the same way. But a few months back I abandoned my hierarchical folder tree, and now, all my files are dumped into the Documents folder. It's ugly, and I don't really like to look at it. Ever. Yet these days I'm able to locate the files I want faster than ever before. How is this possible? Metadata.
The traditional, hierarchical structure is something like the encyclopedic approach to knowledge: it worked back when the world was seen as something completely structured and knowable, with every object finding its home in one (and only one) position in the hierarchy. But as postmodernists know, that model frequently collapses under its own weight, as objects fail to fall neatly into single locations of the tree or when objects move from place to place(s, sometimes simultaneously) over time. Aliases and shortcuts are a tacked-on attempt to remedy the situation, but they end up suffering from the same issues. A similar shift in website design began with static html files being replaced by database-drive sites that assemble requested pages on the fly, depending on context. So while the metadata system requires a small amount of overhead in order to tag files as you create and use them, in the long run it might be much more efficient and useful.
[via Lifehacker]
Posted by johndanseven at April 28, 2006 10:42 PM