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This is a glossary of terms that we commonly use within the FAIR-DI team.
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Conceptual Model
Definition
A conceptual model is an abstract representation of a system and comprises well-defined concepts, their qualities or attributes, and their relationships to other concepts. A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. The conceptual model can be materialised in a graphical representation facilitating knowledge elicitation, organisation and interaction with domain experts. This is relevant because interactions and discussions within a Working groups are often driven by a graphical representation.
There is no perfect candidate for representing the conceptual model. And, although not without limitations, risks for misunderstandings and mis-interpretations, we choose UML language with visual Paradigm tool as an instruments in addressing (a) the concern for having a conceptual model established and (b) the concern for providing a graphical representation.
Ontology
Definition
An ontology is a a formal specification describing the concepts and relationships that can formally exist for an agent or a community of agents (e.g. domain experts) [gruber]. It encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definition of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, and entities that substantiate one, many, or all domains of discourse.
Metadata schema
Definition
A metadata schema is a structured framework or set of rules that define how metadata (information about data) is organised and described. Metadata schemas are used to standardised the format and content of metadata for efficient data management and retrieval.
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Definition
Domain specific models
Data Shape specification
Definition
A data shape specification or simply as data shape constraint or data shape, provides a set of conditions on top of an ontology/ schema, limiting how the ontology can be instantiated. this is commonly used for validation of the data.
Description
The conditions and constraints that apply to a given ontology are provided as shapes and other constructs expressed in the form of an RDF graph.
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In the context of health-ri and for national catalog we assume that the data shapes are expressed in SHACL language as an artefact. This is commonly used for validation of the data. It can also be used as a mechanism for interoperability for data exchange between two systems. Every shacl file contains schema definition and the exchange constraints.
Core Vocabulary
Metadata specification document
FAIR data specification → (new term)
The FAIR artefacts → (new term)
Definition
An artefact is a materialisation of a FAIR data specification in a concrete representation that is appropriate for addressing one or more concerns (e.g. use cases, requirements).
They encode or indicate a representation format, attend a need or specific purpose, and address a clear concern. In the Health-RI context, we acknowledge, but not limited to, the following list of artefacts:
Persistent URIs
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource.
RDF
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and OWL 2 representation
SHACL representation
Pictures/Diagrams
UML representation
JSON-LD representation (
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JSON and schema)
Shacl representation
Diagrams Conceptual models
FAIRification process
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