People and Organizations
Many documentation dialects include mechanisms for connecting people and organizations to metadata records. There are two general approaches to these connections. The first involves including the roles of the people in the names of the metadata element's. For example, the NetCDF Attribute Convention for Data Discovery includes fields titled creator_name, creator_email, and creator_url. This approach makes it difficult to standardize because new standard elements must be added in order to add a new role, i.e. processor_name, processor_email, processor_URL. The second approach centers around a generic description of a person or an organization that includes an attribute that gives the role they play with respect to the resource being documented. This approach allows additions by extending the list of roles. See NetCDF, HDF, and ISO Metadata for more details on this approach.
Connecting people to resources is an important role of metadata. In addition, it is critical to describe people's role with respect to the resource.
NASA GCMD Directory Interchange Format
The DIF dialect differentiates clearly between documentation of people and organizations. People are documented using the Personnel object with roles of DIF AUTHOR, INVESTIGATOR, and TECHNICAL CONTACT:
<dif:Personnel> <dif:Role/> <dif:First_Name/> <dif:Middle_Name/> <dif:Last_Name/> <dif:Email/> <dif:Phone/> <dif:Fax/> <dif:Contact_Address> <dif:Address/> <dif:City/> <dif:Province_or_State/> <dif:Postal_Code/> <dif:Country/> </dif:Contact_Address> </dif:Personnel>
The dialect includes information for one type of organization: the Data Center that distributes the data. The Data Centers are documented using the DataCenter object:
<dif:Data_Center> <dif:Data_Center_Name> <dif:Short_Name/> <dif:Long_Name/> </dif:Data_Center_Name> <dif:Data_Center_URL/> <dif:Data_Set_ID/> <dif:Personnel> <dif:Role/> <dif:First_Name/> <dif:Middle_Name/> <dif:Last_Name/> <dif:Email/> <dif:Phone/> <dif:Fax/> <dif:Contact_Address> <dif:Address/> <dif:City/> <dif:Province_or_State/> <dif:Postal_Code/> <dif:Country/> </dif:Contact_Address> </dif:Personnel> </dif:Data_Center>
ECHO
The ECHO dialect combines people and organizations into the Contact structure:
<Contact> <Role/> <HoursOfService/> <Instructions/> <OrganizationName/> <OrganizationAddresses> <Address> <StreetAddress/> <City/> <StateProvince/> <PostalCode/> <Country/> </Address> </OrganizationAddresses> <OrganizationPhones> <Phone> <Number/> <Type>voice</Type> </Phone> <Phone> <Number/> <Type>fax</Type> </Phone> </OrganizationPhones> <OrganizationEmails> <Email/> </OrganizationEmails> <ContactPersons> <ContactPerson> <FirstName/> <MiddleName/> <LastName/> <JobPosition/> </ContactPerson> </ContactPersons> </Contact>
The ECHO Collection Roles:
Investigator 1339 ORNL DAAC User Services 749 Archive 638 TECHNICAL CONTACT 617 DATA CENTER CONTACT 585 DIF AUTHOR 368 Producer 271 Data Manager 225 GHRC USER SERVICES 181 User Services 176 Data Originator 77 TECHNICAL CONTACT, DIF AUTHOR 54 Archiver 40 DIF AUTHOR, TECHNICAL CONTACT 35 INVESTIGATOR, TECHNICAL CONTACT 2 Distributor 2
ECS
<Contact> <Role/> <HoursofService/> <ContactInstructions/> <ContactOrganizationAddress> <StreetAddress/> <City/> <StateProvince/> <PostalCode/> <Country/> </ContactOrganizationAddress> <OrganizationTelephone> <TelephoneNumber/> <TelephoneNumberType/> </OrganizationTelephone> <OrganizationEmail> <ElectronicMailAddress/> </OrganizationEmail> <ContactPersons> <ContactFirstName/> <ContactMiddleName/> <ContactLastName/> <ContactJobPosition/> </ContactPersons> </Contact>
Roles
The ECS Collection Metadata include eight roles:
Value | Count |
Archive | 4481 |
Data Originator | 594 |
Distributor | 6 |
Instrument | 68 |
Investigator | 851 |
Producer | 3201 |
Quality Assessment | 4 |
User Services | 587 |
ISO
The ISO dialect combines people and organizations into the CI_ResponsibleParty object, a flexible structure that supports many combinations of organizations and people. Most objects that include associated responsible parties can have any number, so, for example, a citation can have people identified in any or all of the roles listed in the CI_RoleCode code list.
The structure of the CI_ResponsibleParty is:
<gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty> <gmd:individualName/> <gmd:organisationName/> <gmd:positionName/> <gmd:contactInfo> <gmd:CI_Contact> <gmd:phone/> <gmd:address> <gmd:CI_Address> <gmd:deliveryPoint/> <gmd:city/> <gmd:administrativeArea/> <gmd:postalCode/> <gmd:country/> <gmd:electronicMailAddress/> </gmd:CI_Address> </gmd:address> <gmd:onlineResource/> <gmd:hoursOfService/> <gmd:contactInstructions/> </gmd:CI_Contact> </gmd:contactInfo> <gmd:role/> </gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
Roles
CI_RoleCode
ISO 19115 | Added in ISO 19115-1 |
+ resourceProvider |
+ sponsor |
Crosswalks
Concept | Description | Dialect (Fit) Paths |
---|---|---|
Role | function performed by the responsible party | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:role/gmd:CI_RoleCode ISO-1 (1) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:role/cit:CI_RoleCode DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Role ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:Role ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:Role |
Organization Name | Name of the organization | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:organisationName/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 (1) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:name/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Data_Center/dif:Data_Center_Name/dif:Short_Name DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Data_Center/dif:Data_Center_Name/dif:Long_Name ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationName ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationName ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationName |
Position Name | Name of the job or position in an organization | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:positionName/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 (1) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:individual/cit:CI_Individual/cit:positionName/gco:CharacterString ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:ContactPersons/echo:ContactPerson/echo:JobPosition ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactPersons/ecs:ContactJobPosition |
First Name | First name of the individual | ISO (2) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:individualName/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 (2) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:individual/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:First_Name ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:ContactPersons/echo:ContactPerson/echo:FirstName ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactPersons/ecs:ContactFirstName |
Middle Name | Middle name of the individual | ISO (2) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:individualName/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 (2) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:individual/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Middle_Name ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:ContactPersons/echo:ContactPerson/echo:MiddleName ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactPersons/ecs:ContactMiddleName |
Last Name | Last name of the individual | ISO (2) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:individualName/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 (2) //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:individual/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:name/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Last_Name ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:ContactPersons/echo:ContactPerson/echo:LastName ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactPersons/ecs:ContactLastName |
Email address of the individual or organization | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:electronicMailAddress/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:electronicMailAddress/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:electronicMailAddress/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Email ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationEmails/echo:Email ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:OrganizationEmail/ecs:ElectronicMailAddress | |
Hours of Service | Time period (including time zone) when individuals can contact the organisation or individual | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:hoursOfService/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:hoursOfService/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:hoursOfService/gco:CharacterString ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:HoursOfService ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:HoursofService |
Contact Instructions | Supplemental instructions on how or when to contact the individual or organisation | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:contactInstructions/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:contactInstructions/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:contactInstructions/gco:CharacterString ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:Instructions ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactInstructions |
Phone | Telephone numbers at which the organisation or individual may be contacted | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:phone/gmd:CI_Telephone/gmd:voice/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:phone/cit:CI_Telephone[cit:numberType/cit:CI_TelephoneTypeCode='voice'] ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:phone/cit:CI_Telephone[cit:numberType/cit:CI_TelephoneTypeCode='voice'] DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Phone ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationPhones/echo:Phone[echo:type='voice]'/echo:Number ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:OrganizationTelephone[ecs:TelephoneNumberType='Voice']/ecs:TelephoneNumber |
Fax | Telephone numbers at which the organisation or individual may be contacted via facsimile (fax) | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:phone/gmd:CI_Telephone/gmd:facsimile/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:phone/cit:CI_Telephone[cit:numberType/cit:CI_TelephoneTypeCode='facsimile'] ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:phone/cit:CI_Telephone[cit:numberType/cit:CI_TelephoneTypeCode='facsimile'] DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Fax ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationPhones/echo:Phone[echo:type='fax]'/echo:Number ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:OrganizationTelephone[ecs:TelephoneNumberType='Facsimile']/ecs:TelephoneNumber |
Address | Address line for the location | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:deliveryPoint/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:deliveryPoint/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:deliveryPoint/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Contact_Address/dif:Address ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationAddresses/echo:Address/echo:StreetAddress ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationAddress/ecs:StreetAddress |
City | City of the location | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:city/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:city/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:city/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Contact_Address/dif:City ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationAddresses/echo:Address/echo:City ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationAddress/ecs:City |
Province or State | Province, state, or other administrative area of the location | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:administrativeArea/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:administrativeArea/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:administrativeArea/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Contact_Address/dif:Province_or_State ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationAddresses/echo:Address/echo:StateProvince ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationAddress/ecs:StateProvince |
Postal_Code | Zip code or other postal code for the location | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:postalCode/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:postalCode/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:postalCode/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Contact_Address/dif:Postal_Code ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationAddresses/echo:Address/echo:PostalCode ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationAddress/ecs:PostalCode |
Country | Country of the location | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:address/gmd:CI_Address/gmd:country/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:country/gco:CharacterString ISO-1 //cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:address/cit:CI_Address/cit:country/gco:CharacterString DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Personnel/dif:Contact_Address/dif:Country ECHO (1) /*/echo:Contacts/echo:Contact/echo:OrganizationAddresses/echo:Address/echo:Country ECS (1) /*/ecs:Contact/ecs:ContactOrganizationAddress/ecs:Country |
Web Page | On-line information that can be used to contact the individual or organisation | ISO (1) //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty/gmd:contactInfo/gmd:CI_Contact/gmd:onlineResource/gmd:CI_OnlineResource ISO-1 /mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:contact/cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Organisation/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:onlineResource/cit:CI_OnlineResource ISO-1 /mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:contact/cit:CI_Responsibility/cit:party/cit:CI_Individual/cit:contactInfo/cit:CI_Contact/cit:onlineResource/cit:CI_OnlineResource DIF (1) /dif:DIF/dif:Data_Center/dif:Data_Center_URL |
xPath Note: The xPaths included in this table use several wildcards. // means any path, so //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty indicates a gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty anywhere in an XML file. /*/ indicates a single level with several possible elements. This usually indicates one of several concrete realizations of an abstract object. For example /*/gmd:identificationInfo could be gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo or gmi:MI_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo and gmd:identificationInfo//*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords could be gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords or gmd:identificationInfo/srv:SV_ServiceIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords.
Fit: The fit of the dialect path with the concept is estimated on a scale of 1 = excellent two-way fit, 2 = one-way fit or some other problem, 3 - extension required.