Abstract

Metadata refer to descriptions about data or as some put it, ‘‘data about data.’’ Metadata capture what happens on the backstage of science, on the trajectory from study conception, design, funding, implementation, and analysis to reporting. Definitions of metadata vary, but they can include the context information surrounding the practice of science, or data generated as one uses a technology, including transactional information about the user. As the pursuit of knowledge broadens in the 21st century from traditional ‘‘science of whats’’ (data) to include ‘‘science of hows’’ (metadata), we analyze the ways in which metadata serve as a catalyst for responsible and open innovation, and by extension, science diplomacy.