Information can be structured (e.g.,
accounting transactions), partly structured
(e.g., object-oriented data bases) or
unstructured (e.g., raw data such as a
string of digits). For purposes of this paper,
information consists of representations
regarding one or more events and/or
instances that have been created for a
specified use. Such events or instances
can have numerous attributes and
characteristics that may or may not be
included in a set of information, depending
on the intended use of the information.
Some uses may require a small number of
attributes to be recorded about a given set
of events or instances whereas other uses
may require a large number of attributes
to be recorded about those same events
or instances.3
For the information to be useful, it is
important to describe the purpose of
the information and other contextual
information necessary to make use
of the information. This is called
meta-information