Objectives

The Metadata Standards Catalog (MSC) Working Group will produce a machine-actionable catalog of metadata standards submitted by all RDA WGs. The catalog system will have an end-user input form and an API for submission from other software. Similarly it will have a user interface for query/reporting and an API for software to query and retrieve suitable standards information. The MSC is a fundamental tool in any autonomic e-research fabric.

This work builds on the outputs of the Metadata Standards Directory Working Group: both the Metadata Standards Directory (MSD) itself and the set of attendant use cases.

Further details about the progress of the work are available on the MSCWG Wiki.

Metadata Principles and their Use

The RDA metadata groups have developed and endorsed a set of five principles for metadata that they believe the wider RDA should adopt and promote.

• Read the principles and accompanying commentary

Current Activities

A prototype Metadata Standards Catalog is under development. You can track progress by visiting the GitHub repository.

The Catalog will be seeded with records migrated from the Metadata Standards Directory. If you would like to help check, clean and expand the migrated records before they are loaded into the Catalog, you can find them in the 'db' folder on GitHub.

Alternatively, to get new records visible prior to the launch of the Catalog, you can continue to add standards, profiles, tools and known users of standards to the Metadata Standards Directory.

Current Events

RDA Plenary 11 Berlin Joint Meeting: IG Metadata, IG Data in Context, WG Metadata Standards Catalog

Wednesday March 21 Breakout 2 – 14:30 – 16:00

Room A08 – Remote Participation https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/198036325

Meeting objectives

1. Present the Metadata Standards Catalog and encourage further submissions;
2. Promote discussion of the proposed metadata element set;
3. Promote discussion and propose a process for
   • collecting domain vocabularies;
   • matching and mapping vocabularies;
   • establishing a canonical vocabulary to assist interoperation by crosswalks to the domain vocabularies;
   • contextual metadata used for assessing relevance and quality of the described asset for the purpose of the end-user;
4. Ensure coordination among the metadata groups and representatives of domain (subject area) groups and other infrastructure groups attending.

Meeting agenda

1. Introduction and purpose
2. Metadata Standards Catalog (20 min)
   • Presentation
   • Request for further contributions for the Metadata Standards Catalog
3. Metadata element set (10 min)
   • Presentation
   • Discussion
4. Vocabularies Process (45 min)
   • Wheat: Windpouire-Esther Dzale-Yeumo (INRA)
   • Marine: Helen Glaves (British Geological Survey)
   • Social Science: Darren Bell (UKDA)
   • Vocabularies process discussion
5. Closing, pointing to metadata resources on RDA website (10 min)