Preservation Ontology

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About

Supporting the long-term preservation of Earth system science data and information is core of the Data Preservation and Stewardship Cluster. As such, a formalism is needed to codify the information. A future-looking approach is to leverage semantic web technologies to capture the knowledge representation and to enable flexible usage of this information.

Roadmap

We would like to start with practical use cases in preservation modeling, then work on a small and manageable model, and continually increment on a working design. Ideally, we should converge with support the information identified in the Provenance and Context Content Standard.

Some major steps planned:

1. Define what we would like from a "Preservation Ontology".
2. Define practical Use Cases
3. Extract high-level requirements
4. Adopt/reuse existing provenance models
5. Extend model with more focus on Earth science preservation
6. Infuse model into data systems

Approach

Following the steps from the roadmap, the approach will also include the following:

• Follow closely the Provenance and Context Content Standard.
  • e.g. processing history, data formats used, product development history, algorithms, ATBDs, product tools, QA, validation, software.
  • On preservation, do we want to model with provenance and/or context?
  • Mark P on provenance vs context:
    • provenance is for reproducibility.
    • context is for someone use the information for something else.
• Start with Open Provenance Model
  • More specifically, initially adopt the OPMO: The Open Provenance Model OWL Ontology
  • then extend with more Earth science-specific domain model.
• Explore if possible to map some of the preservation model information to ISO 19115 - Metadata for Geographic Data?
  • ISO 19115 and 19115-2 have Lineage sections.
  • ISO LI and LE lineage mostly covers processing provenance.
  • In light of Metadata Evolution for NASA Earth Science Data System (MENDS) recommendations.
    • reference: MENDS Breakout at ESIP 2011 Winter meeting.

Use Cases

Here are some initial place holders:

Capturing preservation information

• capturing data production provenance
• capture data product context

Using preservation information

• provenance for reproducibility
• context for reuse in other domains

Model

tbd

Infusion

tbd