In metadata, a data element definition is a human readable phrase or sentence associated with a data element within a data dictionary that describes the meaning or semantics of a data element.
Data element definitions are critical for external users of any data system. Good definitions can dramatically ease the process of mapping one set of data into another set of data. This is a core feature of distributed computing and intelligent agent development.
There are several guidelines that should be followed when creating high-quality data element definitions.
Read more about Data Element Definition: Properties of Clear Definitions, Using Precise Words, Examples of Definitions That Could Be Improved
Famous quotes containing the words data, element and/or definition:
“This city is neither a jungle nor the moon.... In long shot: a cosmic smudge, a conglomerate of bleeding energies. Close up, it is a fairly legible printed circuit, a transistorized labyrinth of beastly tracks, a data bank for asthmatic voice-prints.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“To be radical, an empiricism must neither admit into its constructions any element that is not directly experienced, nor exclude from them any element that is directly experienced.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“The physicians say, they are not materialists; but they are:MSpirit is matter reduced to an extreme thinness: O so thin!—But the definition of spiritual should be, that which is its own evidence. What notions do they attach to love! what to religion! One would not willingly pronounce these words in their hearing, and give them the occasion to profane them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)