Schema for exchange of crystallography metadata
Summary:The eBank UK project has produced a prototype demonstrator of a service based on EPrints.org software providing access to the detailed results of scientific experiments in crystallography. To present this complex data in a retrievable and meaningful way requires that it is described by metadata using appropriate metadata schema that support harvesting and re-use by other services through alternative interfaces. The challenge faced by the project is the complexity and volume of data that are to be made accessible from the principal points in the network dissemination chain - institutional archives, aggregators, service providers, portals, and prospectively other data providers such as publishers and digital libraries. The design of the metadata schema is critical to the success of the demonstrator, and is perhaps the key contribution of the first phase of the project (to September 2004). The report describes the metadata schema adopted during the initial phase of the project, and shows how the metadata records based on these schemas are presented in the demonstrators. The advantages and limitations of the approach are briefly evaluated with a view to appropriateness of the schema for the presentation of experimental data from other science disciplines through other service providers, which will be investigated during phase 2 of the project.
eBank UK XML Schema, namespace and Application Profile
The latest version of the eBank UK XML schema is found at the locations below. Please Note that the schema is a work in progress, and subject to change at short notice. It is not recommended that this schema be adopted by any other service at this stage.
- The ebank_dc container schema:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/projects/ebank-uk/schemas/xsd/ebank_dc.xsd - The ebankterms schema:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/projects/ebank-uk/schemas/xsd/ebankterms.xsd
The eBank UK namespace, ebankterms, is provided for human and machine reference at: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/projects/ebank-uk/schemas/terms/ The URI for each eBank UK-specific metadata term is grounded on its declaration in this document.
The eBank metadata profile for the project repository and service is documented as an Metadata Application Profile. This is done according to the CEN standard "Dublin Core Application Profile Guidelines" and the DCMI Abstract Model. The Application Profile is the documentation necessary to consult in case other projects want to model metadata informed by the eBank solution or when OAI harvesting of the eBank resources is planned.
Metadata exchange by OAI-PMH
eBank UK currently exports metadata using the OAI-PMH 2.0 protocol in two different metadata formats:
- Simple DC (oai_dc).
- METS encoded qualified DC (ebank_mets).
Metadata Schema References
CLRC Scientific Metadata Model
Matthews, B. & Sufi, S. (2001). "The CLRC Scientific Metadata Model - Version 1." (ed. Kerstin Kleese van Dam). Technical Report DL TR 02001. Warrington: CLRC Daresbury Laboratory.
http://www-dienst.rl.ac.uk/library/2002/tr/dltr-2002001.pdf
(This technical report includes a full description of the CLRC Scientific Metadata Format Version 1 including the XML schema and an example).
Sufi, S., Matthews, B. & Kleese van Dam, K. (2003). "An interdisciplinary model for the representation of scientific studies and associated data holdings."UK e-Science All Hands Meeting, Nottingham, 2-4 September 2003.
http://www.nesc.ac.uk/events/ahm2003/AHMCD/pdf/020.pdf
NERC DataGrid: MOLES
MOLES (Metadata Objects for Links in Environmental Science): Schema; Metadata Guide in tar.gz file
O'Neill, Kevin et al (2004). "A specialised metadata approach to discovery and use of data in the NERC DataGrid" (Paper - pdf). Proceedings of the U.K. e-science All Hands Meeting, 2004.
http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/public_docs/AHM-NDGDMandMDMSplitFinal.pdf
O'Neill Kevin et al (2003). "The Metadata Model of the NERC DataGrid" (Paper - pdf).
Proceedings of the U.K. e-science All Hands Meeting, 2003.
http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/public_docs/AHM-2003-KON.pdf
STMML
Murray-Rust, P. & Rzepa, H.S. (2002). "STMML: a markup language for scientific, technical and medical publishing." Data Science Journal 1(2), 1-65. http://journals.eecs.qub.ac.uk/codata/Journal/contents/1_2/1_2pdfs/ds121.pdf
Chemical Markup Language
Murray-Rust, P. & Rzepa, H.S. (2003). "Chemical markup, XML, and the World Wide Web, 4: CML Schema." Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Science
s, 43(3), 757-772.
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/article.cgi/jc
isd8/2003/43/i03/html/ci0256541.html
Resource Metadata for the Virtual Observatory
Hanisch, R (ed.), Resource Metadata for the Virtual Observatory, Version 0.8, IVOA Working Draft, 2003-07-09
This document suggests an architecture for resource and service metadata and describes the relationship of this architecture to emerging Web Services standards. An initial set of metadata concepts is also described.
http://ivoa.net/Documents/WD/ResMetadata/WD-RM-20030709.html
International Virtual Observatory Alliance XML SchemaVOResource
Implementation of an XML Schema describing a Resource to be used in the Virtual Observatory. Based on "Resource Metadata for the Virtual Observatory", Version 0.8, February 2002 by Bob Hanisch et al.
http://www.ivoa.net/xml/VOResource/
Materials Science
Bartolo, L.M. and Lowe, C.S. (2003)."
A Preliminary Investigation of Metadata Description Mechanisms for Materials
Science". Dublin Core Conference, Seattle, Washington, USA, 27 September - 2 October 2003.
http://purl.oclc.org/dc2003/03bartolo.pdf
Other
XSIL
http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/SDA/xsil/
Common Information Model (CIM) Standards
http://www.dmtf.org/standards/standard_cim.php
Data Documentation Initiative
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/DDI/
The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an effort to establish an international XML-based standard for the content, presentation, transport, and preservation of documentation for datasets in the social and behavioral sciences.
