Intermediaatsete

Intermediaatsete is a term that appears in some Estonian-language discussions of data and media production to denote intermediate artifacts produced during a workflow. It is typically used to refer to items that sit between raw inputs and the final published or delivered product, such as intermediate datasets, mock-ups, prototypes, staging files, or metadata records. The word is formed by combining an inter- prefix with a local plural suffix, and its exact etymology varies by author; it is not uniformly defined across disciplines.

Usage and scope: In practice, intermediaatsete are outputs intended for internal use, analysis, or provenance tracking, rather than immediate public dissemination. They can aid in debugging, iterative development, and reproducibility, but may also be opaque to collaborators if not properly documented or versioned.

Examples of intermediaatsete include datasets created during cleaning and transformation, wireframes and mock-ups used to guide design, versioned drafts of documentation, staging copies of software builds, and metadata records used to index and describe final products.

Relation to related concepts: The term is closely linked to ideas of data provenance, reproducible research, and version control. It emphasizes the intermediate steps that researchers and practitioners rely on to reach a final result, while acknowledging that the boundaries between intermediate artifacts and final outputs can be fluid depending on context. Critics note that lack of standard definition can hinder communication across fields.