4B Exposing metadata

Introduction

In this section we describe the FAIR Data Point (FDP) and its role in data onboarding. We also provide information about the various ways of implementing an FDP in your institute. Note that this page is intended for general audiences.

FAIR Data Point

A FAIR Data Point Is a server-side application that exposes metadata following the FAIR principles. By adhering to FAIR principles, data providers can ensure that their data is accessible, understandable and usable by others while respecting privacy and ethical considerations. This promotes greater transparency and accountability in data sharing efforts, fostering more equitable and responsible use of data for research, innovation and decision-making.  FDP specification is based on widely accepted semantic metadata standards DCAT (4A Metadata mapping ) .

Here is a short video (2:05) from Fair Enough that explains what and FDP is:

In principle there are several ways for implementation of an FDP. In general, we recommend an implementation as close to the source of the data as possible to ensure that the data is accurate and updated. This would be a local deployment of an FDP (1.a Expose your local system ) at your institute or using an existing implementation of an FDP protocol within a tool your institute uses such as Molgenis or Castor (A list of implementations can be found here).

In some cases, an FDP is already present within an institute and can be used for onboarding. If you are not sure if a local FDP is available, contact Health-RI service desk servicedesk@health-ri.nl.

If an FDP implementation is not possible due to, for example; security issues, there is an option of using a central FDP. In general, this way is not preferred as it uses manual data entry, is removed from the data source and requires regular updates. You can find more information about this path here: 1.c Central FDP

After a FDP implementation, you are ready to populate the FDP with your metadata.

Firstly, the HRI shacles need to imported to the FDP: Importing shacl files in the FDP - Front end

Then your metadata can be imported, are several ways to do this. First is manual entry. We do not recommend this path as it does require manual input and is not scalable. Therefore we recommend to automate your input: 2.a Automate export from your local system for example using the python package SeMPyRO: 2.b Example python code to upload metadata to FDP.

Here is a video (4:47) explaining the deployment of an FDP by Fair Enough :

Next steps

If you have an FDP and compliant metadata (4A Metadata mapping )within your FDP, the data can be harvested by the National Catalogue 5. Metadata harvesting .