Customising a generic repository with domain-specific metadata – the CREATIVE project

RADAR4KIT is the generic repository for all scientific data at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The metadata for datasets which are being published on this repository are also generic and do not necessarily offer the best description for datasets from specific domains such as the environmental sciences.

In the light of an increasing number of initiatives harvesting and aggregating datasets from different repositories which need more detailed descriptions to facilitate meaningful aggregation or filtering, the CREATIVE project provides a solution for domain-specific metadata in the generic RADAR4KIT repository. We developed customized templates and input masks for domain-specific metadata, which enhance the RADAR4KIT usability for the environmental sciences. These metadata schemas are harmonised with the schemas used by the NFDI4Earth, the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) for Earth System Sciences (ESS), so the data which are harvested from RADAR4KIT can be found and processed there. Similarly, the metadata schemas are compatible to the virtual research environment V-FOR-WaTer, which is being developed at KIT in a collaboration between hydrologists and computer scientists and can be used for processing and visualisation of datasets.

Another key focus of the CREATIVE project is connecting the data stewards in environmental science at KIT, facilitating exchange and mutual support in research data management and publishing. Testing the domain-specific metadata templates with this user group and the involved initiatives and infrastructures will also give indication on how this approach can be generalised and transferred to other repositories and disciplines to support the cultural change towards sharing FAIR data at KIT in Germany and internationally.