This training module provides detailed instructions for the usage of the EUDAT metadata service B2FIND . We explain how to employ B2FIND as an external metadata portal service for communities and how scientists from any community can search through metadata provided to B2FIND. Please consult the user documentation on the services for a more general introduction to B2FIND.
Additionally, we provide hands-on material for the whole metadata management workflow, from metadata generation and formating, providing and harvesting (using OAI-PMH ), to mapping and validation, and finally uploading to a metadata catalogue and portal (based on CKAN). This workflow is shown, together with the training modules, in the figure below.
The training material consists of step-by-step installation instructions which indicate how the training services and tools are set up. By this users get deeper insight into how components of the service are linked to each other. Note, that we not only provide the view of a service adapter (community) or researcher using the platform to search through the metadata catalogue, but also the view of the service provider EUDAT. At the end of the tutorial you will have stepped into each of the roles.
This training material foresees three types of trainees:
- Those who want to learn how to adapt or integrate the B2FIND service as a metadata portal for their community, i.e. data managers who want to publish their community's metadata through EUDAT.
- Those who want to set up the whole metadata workflow, including an OAI harvester service and an own CKAN portal, locally at their site. This may be geared more towards data managers and site admins.
- Those who want to use the EUDAT B2FIND service, i.e. scientists who want to search and access research data.
Following the full, in-depth tutorial will allow you to understand how the components of the whole metadata management workflow are combined. Thus, it enables you to also extend the integration of the B2FIND service at the low-level (technology-level rather than API level). Following just the "use" part of the training will familiarise you with the query and search APIs of the services, but not with the underlying technology and its wiring.
The order and numbering of the submodules in the table below follows the curriculum of the training as shown in the figure above. Next to the Target audience column, in the Required for B2FIND column, we specify if a submodule is needed w.r.t. B2FIND usage or integration. Each component takes about 0.5 to 1.0 hours.
| # | Submodule | Target audience | Required for B2FIND |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00.a | Specify metadata | researchers/data managers | B2FIND integration |
| 01.a | Specify metadata | researchers/data managers | B2FIND integration |
| 01.b | Generate metadata | researchers/data managers | Not necessarily |
| 02 | Install the jOAI software | site admins | B2FIND integration |
| 02.a | Configure your data provider | site admins | B2FIND integration |
| 02.b | Configure your harvester | site admins | Not needed for B2FIND integration |
| 03.a | Map metadata | data managers and researchers | B2FIND integration |
| 03.b | Validate metadata | data managers and researchers | B2FIND integration |
| 04 | Install CKAN | site admins | B2FIND integration (done, portal b2find.eudat.eu already available) |
| 04.a | Configure CKAN | data managers | B2FIND integration (already done for b2find.eudat.eu) |
| 04.b | Upload metadata | data managers | B2FIND integration, to the B2FIND catalogue done by B2FIND team |
| 05 | Using B2FIND | researchers | B2FIND usage |
| 05.a | Graphical User Interface | researchers | B2FIND usage |
| 05.b | B2FIND (CKAN) API | researchers | B2FIND usage |
| 05.c | Command Line Interface | researchers | B2FIND usage |
| 05.d | Data access | researchers | B2FIND usage |
Because it's easier to follow and understand the training on the base of concrete use cases, we provide some simple examples and the corresponding data samples.
| Project name | Usecase description | Related submodules | Sample data |
|---|---|---|---|
| FishProject | A researcher or data manager received the order from her boss to prepare metadata originated from project fishProject. ... | all | Raw metadata samples (comma seperated list) samples/RAW_data/sample.csv |