Metadata Schema and Crosswalk Registry (MSCR)

Overview

The MSCR allows registered users and communities to create, register and version schemas and crosswalks with PIDs. The published content can be searched, browsed and downloaded without restrictions. The MSCR also provides an API to facilitate the transformation of data from one schema to another via registered crosswalks.

The MSCR provides projects and individual researchers with the possibility to manage their metadata schema and/or relevant metadata schema crosswalks. The schema and crosswalks are shared with the community for reuse and extension supported by a proper versioning mechanism.

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The EOSC MSCR supports registering schemas/crosswalks hosted elsewhere as well hosting them in the repository
It offers basic data management support: PIDs, metadata, versioning and provenance information.
Supports a GUI for visually creating crosswalks between metadata schemas
Provides an API and guidelines for organisations to register and maintain metadata schemas and crosswalks
When registering metadata schema users are able to provide detailed data-type information for fields and attributes using the DTR
Provides a (meta-)data interoperability service that facilitates conversion between metadata schemas
The metadata schema and crosswalk registration process and governance are aligned with the EOSC Provider and Resource onboarding process (currently operated by EOSC Future)
The MSCR will be integrated with all relevant EOSC-Core services: AAI, monitoring and helpdesk

The MSCR will facilitate better interoperability between resource catalogues and information systems using different (metadata) schema and encourage organisations and especially researchers to share their metadata interoperability work by registering publishing the metadata crosswalks used in their workflows that are currently not visible (FAIRification). By providing an easy to use GUI for creating crosswalks , the GUI will attract users currently relying on project specific solutions. Specific typing of schema attributes using the DTR will better enable operationalising the created metadata crosswalks.

In a research department the the researchers use a workflow to prepare data after downloading from one or more repositories for further processing which includes translating the metadata using a special conversion script (crosswalk) into another metadata schema needed by the processing software. The department's researchers have from time to make small changes to the script since the metadata schema of the downloaded resources change or requirements of the processing software change, which they document separately, but there is no agreed way to do this nor a need since they are in close contact and inform one another. However, the crosswalk can not be explicitly referred to in publications and also when a bigger project starts with more collaborating researchers, new to the topic, from different departments that plan to use the same workflow but using different versions of the processing software; crosswalk management becomes difficult. The MSCR can help in this situation in a number of ways.

When depositing the involved metadata schema and crosswalks in the MSCR, it offers basic data management services, issuing a DOI/PID for reference in publications (and other research objects eg. DMPs), metadata for discovery and provenance tracking. The researchers can select from different crosswalk versions and refer to specific versions when needed using a PID.
New crosswalks can be created on the basis of old existing versions by making use of a special graphic mapping tool, provided by the MSCR, and information about changes is automatically kept.
The metadata crosswalks are discoverable by other researchers because the crosswalk metadata is being harvested/registered by semantic artefacts catalogues eg. FAIRsharing.