status: Recognised & Endorsed

Chair (s): Keith Jeffery, Rebecca Koskela, Alex Ball

Group Email: [group_email]

Secretariat Liaison:


 

 

The Metadata IG will concern itself with all aspects of metadata for research data.  In particular, it will attempt to coordinate the efforts of the WGs concerned with metadata to produce a coherent approach to metadata covering metadata modalities of description, restriction, navigation, provenance, preservation and the use of metadata for the purposes discovery, contextualisation, validation, analytical processing, simulation, visualisation and interoperation.  It will also liaise with the other WGs especially Data Foundation and Terminology, PIDs, Standardisation of data categories and codes and Data Citation.  This IG activity relates to data management policies and plans of research organisations and researchers, and to policies and standards of research funders and of research communities which may or may not be official standards.

The metadata IG will organise itself through online meetings and face-to-face meetings of members of the IG present at RDA Plenary events.  It is proposed that – while membership is open to any RDA registered member – key members will be the leaders of the WGs concerned with metadata.  

 

Metadata Principles - Created and endorsed by all the RDA metadata groups

  1. The only difference between metadata and data is the mode of use
  2. Metadata is not just for data, it is also for users, software services, computing resources
  3. Metadata is not just for description and discovery; it is also for contextualisation (relevance, quality, restrictions (rights, costs)) and for coupling users, software and computing resources to data (to provide a  VRE)
  4. Metadata must be machine-understandable as well as human-understandable for autonomicity (formalism)
  5. Management (meta)data is also relevant (research proposal, funding, project information, research outputs, outcomes, impact…)

More

 

Current Activity

Virtual RDA Plenary 18 - see Repository for slides

 

 

Metadata Element Set:

The metadata groups intend to recommend the following metadata element set. Please note that each element needs 'unpacking' to get to something recognizable and actionable by a computer. The comments from reviewers are listed for each element. The folder for all elements is here.

 

Element URL Volunteer Leader
Unique Identifier (for later use including citation) http://bit.ly/2ryRr12 Nick Juty
Location (URL) http://bit.ly/2rujALv  
Description https://bit.ly/2X11UFq  
Keywords (terms) http://bit.ly/2se44QX  
Temporal coordinates http://bit.ly/2sdVKAR  
Spatial coordinates http://bit.ly/2ru6kGt  
Originator (organisation(s) / person(s)) http://bit.ly/2ruFCgZ  
Project http://bit.ly/2rukIid  
Facility / equipment http://bit.ly/2sdEj3h  
Quality http://bit.ly/2svs0Cc Jane Greenberg
Availability (licence, persistence) http://bit.ly/2t56LEy Nick Juty
Provenance http://bit.ly/2se59Z1  
Citations http://bit.ly/2se9efQ  
Related publications (white or grey) http://bit.ly/2rjHFR5  
Related software http://bit.ly/2rutPzn  
Schema http://bit.ly/2srMUl3  
Medium / format http://bit.ly/2svtEEe  

 

As noted above, these are elements, not single-valued attributes.  Most will have internal syntax (structure) and use of terms that require declared semantics. Also it is not exhaustive; it is expected that particular subject domains will have much greater lists of elements.  This list is intended to be the recommend list of elements that should be provided by all within RDA to

  1. permit discovery,
  2. support contextualisation (assessment of relevance and value) and
  3. facilitate action (interoperation including query and integration).

Use Case Analysis:

The initial use case Analysis was presented in Session 9 joint meeting of all the metadata groups at Plenary 6 in Paris. Below are some revised slides based on the feedback from that meeting and the master use case spreadsheet showing the process.

 

Metadata Standards Catalog:

The RDA Metadata Standards Catalog Working Group supports an open directory of metadata standards applicable to scientific data that is both human-readable and machine-readable using an API. Additions or updates to the directory can be made here.  

 

Adoption

 

Metadata Standards Directory:

The RDA Metadata Standards Directory Working Group supports a collaborative, open directory of metadata standards applicable to scientific data. Additions or updates to the directory can be made here.  

 

 

Adoption Story: Improving the Copernicus Climate Data Store metadata scheme with the RDA metadata standards repository

 

FAIR guiding principles published in Nature journal

The FAIR Principles address these needs by providing a precise and measurable set of qualities a good data publication should exhibit - qualities that ensure that the data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship have been published.

 

Past Plenaries

  • 2021-11-03 - 2021-11-11 RDA Plenary 18 Virtual
  • 2021-04-20 - 2021-04-23 RDA Plenary 17 Edinburgh (Virtual)
  • 2020-11-09 - 2020-11-12 RDA Plenary 16 Costa Rica (Virtual)
  • 2019-10-23 - 2019-10-25 RDA Plenary 14 Helsinki
  • 2019-04-02 - 2019-04-04 RDA Plenary 13 Philadelphia
  • 2018-11-05 - 2018-11-08 RDA Plenary 12 Gabarone
  • 2018-03-19 - 2018-03-21 RDA Plenary 11 Berlin
  • 2017-09-19 - 2017-09-21 RDA Plenary 10 Montreal
  • 2017-04-05 - 2017-04-07 RDA Plenary 9 Barcelona
  • 2016-09-15 - 2016-09-17 RDA Plenary 8 Denver
  • 2016-03--01 - 2016-03-03 RDA Plenary 7 Tokyo
  • 2015-09-23 - 2015-09-25 RDA Plenary 6 Paris
  • 2015-08-03- 2015-11-03 RDA Plenary 5 San Diego
  • 2014-09-22 - 2014-09-24  RDA Plenary 4 Amsterdam
  • 2014-03-26 - 2014-03-28  RDA Plenary 3 Dublin
  • 2014-02-24 - 2014-02-25 RDA Europe Munich Meeting

 

Posts

09
November
2022

Invitation to participate in 'A Decade of Data: 10 Years of the RDA' events and activities

by Connie Clare

Good day, The RDA Secretariat would like to invite the Metadata IG to participate in ‘A Decade of Data’: Celebrating 10 Years of the Research Data Alliance’. 10 months to celebrate 10 years of the RDA
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14
October
2022

[NFDI4Ing] Join the NFDI4Ing conference 2022 on October 26th and 27th!

by Tobias Hamann

Dear Researchers, For Wednesday and Thursday, October 26 and 27, 2022, we cordially invite you to our annual NFDI4Ing conference. Whether researchers, teachers or industry representatives - all those interested in (research) data management are welcome. Through presentations of research results, informative workshops and demonstrations, as well as case studies, we would like to discuss how data management can be implemented in engineering theory and practice.   
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21
September
2022

Services and Infrastructures for RDM in Mechanical and Production Engineering - Invitation to the NFDI4Ing CC-41 Community Event 2022

by Tobias Hamann

Dear RDM enthusiasts at RDA,  Research data management requires the exchange with domain-specific communities to design and evaluate existing solutions and future developments.  Therefore the National Research Data Infrastructure for Engineering Sciences (NFDI4Ing) invites under the slogan "Services and Infrastructures for RDM in Mechanical and Production Engineering" to its CC-41 community meeting. 
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22
August
2022

[LAST CALL] [NFDI4Ing] Call for Contributions for the NFDI4Ing conference 2022

by Tobias Hamann

Dear Researchers, The topic of research data management (RDM) is present in science and industry. In Germany, this topic is represented by the NFDI (National Research Data Infrastructure) initiative, and it's 19 consortia, each covering a specific field in science. Engineering is the focus of the NFDI4Ing consortium (NFDI for Engineering).
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17
February
2022

Deadline for the P19 Call for submission is 26th February and other news items!

by Irina Hope

Dear Group Members,  We would like to share some important deadlines and news items with you.  One week left to submit your session application for RDA’s 19th Plenary Meeting! The Call for Sessions deadline is next week, the 26th of February, at 23:59 UTC. This is a firm deadline and there will be no further extension. 
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14
October
2021

Webinar designed for RDA Group participants

by Stephanie Hagstrom

Hello - My apologies for cross-posting. We wanted to be sure RDA group Chairs and group members received this information about an upcoming webinar specifically designed to provide tips and strategies for promoting project outputs. This webinar is designed for RDA Working and Interest Group Members, but anyone interested in this topic is also invited and welcome to attend. Please register and attend "How To Get Attention for Research Project Outputs " webinar on 21 Oct 2021 - 15:00 UTC presented by Jennifer Gibson. Register here.
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24
September
2021

RDA Virtual Plenary 18 draft programme now available

by Secretariat Group Account

Dear Group Co-Chairs, The RDA Virtual Plenary 18 (VP18) draft programme is now available: https://www.rd-alliance.org/rdas-18th-plenary-meeting-programme. Please note that the Plenary dates have been revised to 3-11 November 2021.
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24
September
2021

RDA Virtual Plenary 18 draft programme now available

by Secretariat Group Account

Dear Group Co-Chairs, The RDA Virtual Plenary 18 (VP18) draft programme is now available: https://www.rd-alliance.org/rdas-18th-plenary-meeting-programme. Please note that the Plenary dates have been revised to 3-11 November 2021.
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16
September
2021

Oct. 7 RDA & ESIP Physical Samples Webinar - Supporting Interdisciplinary Sample Data Discovery, Integration, and Reuse

by Stephanie Hagstrom

Hello RDA WG and IG members - We invite you to the upcoming RDA & ESIP Physical Samples Webinar - Supporting Interdisciplinary Sample Data Discovery, Integration, and Reuse on October 7, 2021 at 20:00 UTC. Read more and register here. May we please also ask for your help in promoting this webinar through your network. Listed below are ways you can help. We hope this will provide easy and fast ways for you to reach out to your colleagues who may also be interested in this webinar. LinkedIn - Open > and "like" and "share"
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08
September
2021

RDA Virtual Plenary 18 - Notification of Acceptance

by Secretariat Group Account

Dear Chairs of the Metadata IG and Preservation, Tools, Techniques and Policies IG, Congratulations! Your RDA Virtual Plenary 18 (VP18) session application titled Metadata Needed for Curation has been approved by the Technical Advisory Board (TAB). Please consider this your official notification of acceptance.
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