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DSP Metadata

The dsp-meta repository contains the code of the DSP Metadata Browser, as well all metadata from projects deposited on the DaSCH Service Platform (DSP).

Metadata in DSP

Alongside primary data, DSP contains metadata that conceptually falls into three categories:

  • Firstly, research projects can generate domain specific metadata themselves within the bounds of the project's data model, e.g. descriptions of images, editorial annotations, etc.
  • Secondly, the DSP maintains a set of technical metadata, which is system-internal only.
  • Thirdly, the DSP maintains a set of domain agnostic metadata that is shared across all projects. This metadata is always present and openly accessible - independent of the project's access rights - to ensure findability and reusability of the data.

It is this third category that is of interest here.

Metadata on Research Data

This documentation provides an overview of the metadata model used by the DSP to manage and describe research data in the humanities. Our vision is to fully capture the provenance of research data—detailing its origins, how it was created, and how it has been used over time.

Humanities research projects are inherently diverse and often span multiple years or even decades. Many of these projects receive funding from various grants and different funders throughout their lifecycle. Additionally, the researchers involved in creating and reusing the data may change over time, reflecting the evolving nature of academic collaboration.

Understanding the complex history of research data is crucial for transparency, reproducibility, and future scholarship. The DSP metadata model is designed to accommodate this complexity by meticulously recording the provenance of data. It tracks:

  • Funding Sources: Documenting the multiple grants and funders that have supported the project over time.
  • Research Personnel: Keeping a record of all researchers who have contributed to or utilized the data, acknowledging the shifts in team composition.
  • Data Lifecycle: Outlining how the data was created, modified, and reused, providing a comprehensive view of its evolution.

By capturing this rich contextual information, we aim to provide a robust framework that supports the integrity and longevity of humanities research data. Whether you are a researcher contributing new data or a scholar exploring existing datasets, this documentation will guide you through our metadata practices and help you understand the stories behind the data.

Consuming Metadata

If you are interested in viewing the metadata in human-readable form, you can visit the DSP Metadata Browser.

If you are interested in re-using our metadata, you can find extensive documentation here, and the work-in-progress documentation of our future data-model here.

The metadata itself can be found here or requested over the API as described here.

Adding Metadata

For adding metadata, please see here.

Code Documentation

For documentation on the code of the DSP Metadata Browser, please see here.