Sprecher
Beschreibung
High-quality subject-specific metadata is essential for FAIR research data and for ensuring the comprehensibility and reproducibility of research. Within NFDI4ING and the Applying Interoperable Metadata Standards (AIMS) project, we developed an approach for creating subject-specific RDF-compliant metadata profiles in the form of SHACL shapes. These profiles enable precise, flexible and machine-interpretable documentation of research processes and data.
The approach allows domain experts to benefit from linked data technologies without requiring deep expertise in semantic web standards. It supports semantic encoding and validation of metadata and data through a hierarchical inheritance model combined with modular profiles. This enables the representation of complex research setups while keeping individual profiles reusable across different contexts, thereby increasing interoperability. The approach relies on low- to medium-specificity ontology terms that are widely available across disciplines, achieving sufficient precision through context-specific combinations.
To make profile modelling accessible to users with limited ontology knowledge, we developed an open-source web service with a graphical user interface for creating metadata profiles. The service supports searching existing terminologies, adding terms to profiles, and defining constrains such as data types, classes, node types,and cardinalities. This allows users without SHACL expertise to create profiles that can be used to create, display and browse RDF metadata.
The service also supports community-driven curation. Profiles can be submitted for review and, once approved, are tagged as community-recommended, helping users identify peer-reviewed profiles.
In the follow-up project AIMS 2, the approach is applied to Materials Science and Surface Physics. Metadata profiles will be integrated into electronic laboratory notebooks, using the open-source ELN eLabFTW as an example. This enables semantic metadata capture and RDF export without disrupting existing research workflows. Additionally, profile exploration, visualization, and the creation of interdependent profiles will be further improved to support modular and reusable modelling practicies.
| Alternative Track | 6. Harmonisation of Metadata: Closing Semantic Gaps |
|---|