The Registry Interchange Format - Collections and Services (RIF-CS) is an XML vocabulary for representing metadata about data collections and related entities based on ISO 2146.[1]
It is a machine-readable format to describe metadata about data collections. Similar to how MARC standards are used by library systems to describe books, RIF-CS is used to describe data collections. For example, a RIF-CS record can describe a spreadsheet containing experimental results: it might contain the title, description, creator, keywords, date the experiment was conducted and a URL to obtain the actual spreadsheet. Another RIF-CS record can describe the person who created the spreadsheet: it might contain their name, address and contact email.
RIF-CS documents, containing RIF-CS records, are exchanged between computer systems. For example, a university can send the RIF-CS documents to a national database, where it can be indexed and searched. People can download RIF-CS records from a national database to use the information to find out more about the data and/or the researcher.
Model
editThe metadata describes the entity as well relationships between the entities. RIF-CS represents metadata about the following types of entities, which it calls registry objects:[2]
- Collections
- Parties
- Activities
- Services
These entities are based on the entities defined in ISO 2146.[3]
The registry objects contain either embedded information or links to other registry objects. Some information is represented directly in the registry object; for example: names, descriptions and dates. Other information is represented by a link to another registry object: for example, the creator for a collection (research data) is a link to another registry object that describes the party (a researcher).
Use
editRIF-CS is used in Australian universities and industry as a format for submitting metadata to the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) Research Data Australia service.[4]
In that context, collections represent collections of research data; parties represent people and groups; activities represent research projects or programs; services represent ways to access the research data collections.
RIF-CS is only a representation of the metadata. To exchange RIF-CS a protocol, such as OAI-PMH, is used.
Example
editThis example RIF-CS document contains a collection record and a party record.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<registryObjects xmlns="https://ands.org.au/standards/rif-cs/registryObjects">
<registryObject group="G1">
<key>urn:uuid:7d9127c5-b97e-4474-87a3-68f2c219c609</key>
<originatingSource>https://www.example.com/thales/source</originatingSource>
<collection type="dataset" dateModified="2013-03-14T15:09:26Z">
<identifier type="local">urn:uuid:dec9b127-0d24-4d12-aaf2-a71e9ed29f75</identifier>
<name type="primary"><namePart>Test data</namePart></name>
<name type="alternative"><namePart>Data for testing</namePart></name>
<description type="full">Data used for testing.</description>
<subject type="local">test</subject>
<location>
<address>
<electronic type="email">
<value>[email protected]</value>
</electronic>
</address>
</location>
<location>
<address>
<electronic type="url">
<value>https://www.example.edu/data/1234</value>
</electronic>
</address>
</location>
<coverage>
<temporal>
<date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2012</date>
<date type="dateTo" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2013</date>
</temporal>
</coverage>
<relatedInfo>
<identifier type="uri">https://www.example.com/foobar</identifier>
</relatedInfo>
<relatedObject>
<key>urn:uuid:30fda6cd-5b08-4376-a1b7-2ee40144d9da</key>
<relation type="hasCollector"/>
</relatedObject>
</collection>
</registryObject>
<registryObject group="G1">
<key>urn:uuid:30fda6cd-5b08-4376-a1b7-2ee40144d9da</key>
<originatingSource>https://www.example.com/thales/source</originatingSource>
<party type="person" dateModified="2013-03-14T07:14:25Z">
<identifier type="ORCID">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9501-6966</identifier>
<name type="primary">
<namePart type="title">Dr</namePart>
<namePart type="given">John</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Citizen</namePart>
</name>
</party>
</registryObject>
</registryObjects>
References
edit- ^ Global Registries, "The Registry Interchange Format - Collections and Services (RIF-CS)" Archived 2013-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 4 January 2013.
- ^ Australian National Data Service, "Learn about RIF-CS" Archived 2013-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 4 January 2013.
- ^ ISO, "ISO 2146:2010 Information and documentation - Registry services for libraries and related organizations".
- ^ Australian National Data Service, "Research Data Australia".