Metadata

By "metadata" we mean data (or information, or statements) about data (or information, or documents). This is the meaning of the term as it is commonly used outside of Semantic Web contexts.

"Metadata" is also sometimes used to mean any database record that is "about" something, in the situation that the record has some kind of identifier meant for use outside the confines of that database. Many people say "metadata" for a URI, or for the thing that it denotes, rather than the "documentation" for the URI or "description" of a thing. We find this confusing. Sometimes a URI denotes a document (such as a journal article), and in this case it is appropriate to say that the URI documentation is metadata for the document - the metadata is "about" data.

But if the data/documentation is not "about" data, it should not be called "metadata".