dataaddressablebytag

Dataaddressablebytag is a data addressing paradigm in which data items are retrieved by references to tags rather than by file path, memory address, or primary key. In this model, tags function as a flexible namespace that can describe an item’s content, provenance, or context. Access is performed by querying the tag registry or index to obtain the items whose metadata includes the requested tag or tag path.

In dataaddressablebytag systems, each item carries one or more tags and may belong to a hierarchical or faceted tag taxonomy. Tags can be assigned by authors, automated classifiers, or governance workflows. Tag-based retrieval typically supports combinatorial queries, such as retrieving items tagged with both “basics” and “dataset,” or items tagged under a given facet.

Typical use cases include content management systems, digital libraries, data lakes, and distributed storage architectures where decoupling identity from location is beneficial. Benefits include improved discoverability, flexible reorganization, multi-tenant indexing, and resilience to data relocation, as well as clearer provenance when tags capture lineage or quality indicators.

Challenges include maintaining consistency among tags, handling synonyms and polysemy, managing tag proliferation, and ensuring scalable indexing and query performance. Effective implementations often rely on formal tag taxonomies, normalization rules, versioning, deduplication of tags, and caching strategies.

Relation to related concepts: content-addressable storage, metadata indexing, tagging schemas, faceted search, and semantic web approaches such as RDF and ontology-driven tagging.