resdata

Resdata is a term used in computing and data management to denote data that describes or accompanies a resource within a resource management system. It can refer to metadata about a resource, identifiers, provenance information, access rights, and, in some contexts, the resource payload or a pointer to it. Because there is no universal standard for resdata, its exact structure and fields vary by domain and software.

In practice, resdata commonly includes fields such as resource identifier, type or class, version, size, encoding, creation and modification timestamps, language or locale, rights or license, and checksums for integrity. It may also contain dependencies, relationships to other resources, and pointers to storage location, such as a URL or object store reference. In some systems, resdata is stored in a separate metadata store; in others it is embedded as a manifest or within the resource package.

Applications span digital libraries and archives, software distribution, GIS, media repositories, and content management, where resdata enables discovery, access control, provenance tracking, and integrity verification. It supports cataloging, policy enforcement, and interoperability between systems when properly documented.

Relation to related concepts includes metadata, resource descriptors or manifests, and data dictionaries. The absence of a single standard across domains means organizations often adopt domain-specific schemas or map resdata to general metadata models. Clear documentation of a system’s resdata schema facilitates reuse and interoperability.

See also: metadata, manifest, resource descriptor, Dublin Core, PREMIS.