WG Research Data
Collections
Draft outputs of a RDA bottom-up effort
P9 - April 2017
Co-chairs: Bridget Almas, Frederik Baumgardt, Tobias Weigel, Thomas Zastrow
WWW.RD-ALLIANCE.ORG - @RESDATALL
CC BY-SA 4.0
Motivation for
Research Data Collections
(Research) data management beyond single objects
Not just describe collections, but enable actions on them
◦ Create, Read, Update, Delete, List plus some others
◦ Machine agents as primary users
Contribute an essential component to the Data Fabric
Provide a cornerstone API specification against which tools and services
can be built across community boundaries
Design considerations
Key requirements:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Favor limited functionality over support for use case details
Offer extension points
Use by machine agents primarily
No constraints on particular back-ends
No mandatory use of PIDs (supported, but optional)
API: Structure
API: Service Features
GET /features
API: Collections
Create/Read/Update/Delete/List
LIST
CREATE
READ
UPDATE
DELETE
GET /collections
POST /collections
GET /collections/{id}
PUT /collections/{id}
DELETE /collections/{id}
API: Collection Member
CRUD/L
LIST
CREATE
READ
UPDATE
DELETE
GET /collections/{id}/members
POST /collections/{id}/members
GET /collections/{id}/members/{mid}
PUT /collections/{id}/members/{mid}
DELETE /collections/{id}/members/{mid}
Building bridges: Interfacing
Clients:
◦ able to interact with compatible endpoints, independent of
provider/community/infrastructure concerns
Servers:
◦ able to provide a basic interface, but still tailored (service features)
◦ can also extend beyond API specification
HTTPS://RD-ALLIANCE.ORG/ - HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/RESDATALL
Current implementations and
use cases
Implementations:
◦ REPTOR: data repository, also covering DTR and DFT recommendations
◦ Tufts: Python/Flask implementation for Perseids Project
◦ backends for file system, RDF/LDP, MongoDB
◦ iDigBio: Python and redis-based
Use cases:
◦ Perseids, iDigBio, GEOFON, DKRZ/CMIP6, CAU Kiel/IGSN – more are
welcome!
HTTPS://RD-ALLIANCE.ORG/ - HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/RESDATALL
Next steps:
Feedback is essential!
Final recommendation to be available at P10
Specification scope is now fixed – no further extensions
Further testing and feedback on the implementations
Finalize specification after feedback from use cases and potential
adopters
Assemble accompanying report, publish together with specification
Backup slides
HTTPS://RD-ALLIANCE.ORG/ - HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/RESDATALL
Collection Object
dynamic
persistent
< IDENTIFIER >
Membership
is a
+
Capabilities
Collection state
Mapping
function
Description
Metadata
set of actions
< IDENTIFIER >
Set of item
identifiers
Collection
properties
+
Collection state
+
Collection state
< IDENTIFIER >
Item
metadata
explicitly defined (naming all identifiers)
implicitly defined (generation rule)
< IDENTIFIER >
… + ...