Metadata Working Group Releases First Specification

Metadata Working Group Releases First Specification

The Metadata Working Group, a consortium of leading companies in the digital media industry, has introduced its first specification aimed at solving key interoperability issues among devices and applications.

The MWG was formed in 2006 with two main goals:

• Preservation and seamless interoperability of digital image metadata
• Interoperability and availability to all applications, devices, and services

The MWG released its first specification at the on-going Photokina 2008 in Germany.

Josh Weisberg, chairman and founder of the Metadata Working Group and director of Microsoft’s Rich Media Group said, “Getting industry leaders together to rally around metadata interoperability is a real turning point, one that we believe will result in technology that’s easier for photographers to use. We’ve been working very hard to produce guidelines that are compatible across all applications, devices and services and that provide best practices for how, when and where metadata should be changed in popular file formats.”

Metadata, sometimes referred to as “data about data,” is important to digital photography because it allows photographers to tag their digital photos with information such as where and when they were taken.

[Site: Metadata Working Group]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.