Three dogmas of metadata and undiscovered knowledge

The prevalence of metadata and technologies supporting metadata have failed to achieve their anticipated objectives (shared data, loose coupling, productivity, intelligence) because they represent an unrealistic, or at least incomplete, picture of the concept "metadata". Three emergent assumptions typically adopted by designers using metadata are identified, assumptions that contain the seeds of the inevitable failure of such designs. We also suggest a number of methodologies to extricate the architect (and more critically, partner architects) from such dogma.