Data Packages BoF - P6 BOF session

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20 July 2015 4431 reads

24 September 2015- BREAKOUT 4 - 11:00


Data Packages are lightweight "packaging" format for data that provide a basis for convenient delivery, installation and management of datasets. Its aims to provide functionality similar to "packaging" in software and "containerization" in shipping: a simple wrapper and basic structure for transportation of data that significantly reduces the friction in data sharing and integration, supports automation and does this without imposing major changes on the underlying data being packaged.

Under development for several years, the specification is now fairly mature and has a growing set of tooling around it. There is a particular focus on tabular data but any kind of data can be "packaged". Because of its lightweight and simple nature it is easy to adopt both for data publishers, data users and data tool makers.

This BoF will explore the Data Package and Tabular Data Package specifications, associated tooling and their current and potential use in research.

More information can be found at:

- http://data.okfn.org/
- http://data.okfn.org/standards
- http://data.okfn.org/doc/data-package
- http://data.okfn.org/doc/tabular-data-package

Who should participate: anyone with an interest in more efficient data sharing. Specifically, groups who have data they need to manage and are looking for a lightweight to do this (whether that is publication, sharing within the group, validation etc). Data Package is also relevant to those interested in metadata as it has a simple extensible, JSON-based, metadata structure, and its core metadata is very lightweight.

Contact person: Rufus Pollock