Terminological Clarifications for FAIR

This is a glossary of terms that we commonly use within the FAIR-DI team. WORK IN IN PROGRESS

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.

Generic Core model

Definition
A generic core metadata schema is a foundational or template that represents essential elements and relationships common cross-domain. It serves as a basis for developing more a specialised schema. In the context of health-ri and national catalogue, the generic core schema includes a set of minimum metadata requirements common across various working groups (such as Imaging and Omics) that enables the user discover and find a research object (e.g., dataset). in the context of health-ri and for the national catalogue we use dcat and dcat-ap as a core metadata schema [read more here].

Generic Health model

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.

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. 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 and OWL 2 representation
SHACL representation
Pictures/Diagrams
UML representation
JSON-LD representation (JSON and schema)

Health-RI data