What Is Meta Data?

Email Task

When you receive an email you can learn quite a lot from the "header".This contains the Meta Data which will give you the path it took to get from the sender to you.Since starting this Internet Communications course I have been taking notice of this data.It tells you which country it originated in,sometimes taking detours.Different email programs give you different amounts of this information.

You don't get a lot from looking at the Meta Data on a message in Gmail,but in Yahoo mail you get half a page of it.So far,for me at least this has mainly novelty value but no doubt it will lead to further questions and knowledge.At the very least it's handy to know if the person you are receiving emails from is really in the country they say they are.I believe that this is sometimes an issue with backpackers.

The screen shot here is the Meta Data from an email I received from a friend in Germany.Lots of detail.As to whether or not it is of much practical use is for me to find out.