Homemade is often seen as better. It certainly applies to cakes, meatloaf and bread. Notice the baking theme there? But does it apply to homemade metadata management? It certainly has some limitations. Digital Book World brought this news to our attention in their article, “Homebrew Systems: How to Be More Efficient in Your Metadata.”
These kinds of homebrew metadata systems spring up out of need and creativity. And often it has been passed along and there is no support or documentation to assist when things go awry.
Even if they are working properly, another major limitation is their inability to integrate with business intelligence systems, accounting systems, royalty tracking systems and more. Homemade solutions can be efficient if handled and designed properly.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
