This documentation is derived from https://www.uu.nl/en/research/yoda and adjusted to Yoda hosted at SURF.
Metadata in Yoda
Metadata is “data about data”. Metadata serves multiple purposes in Yoda, the most important being:
- To describe the contents of a dataset for a broad audience.
- To inform the audience as to whether the data can be reused and, if so, under what conditions.
- To prescribe how the data should be cited and whom to acknowledge.
- To inform digital archivists and IT staff about how long the data should be retained.
- To facilitate finding the dataset in data catalogues.
We distinguish two types of metadata:
Structured metadata consists of information that is standardized globally and used by data catalogues. Examples are the name of the data package, its creator, the retention period of the package, etc. When a data package is published, Yoda makes the structured metadata available for harvesting by data catalogues.
Unstructured metadata is intended to provide more detailed information about the data. This information can be in a "Readme.txt" or other file that is included as part of the data package. The format of this file is chosen by the researcher. Users will need to open and inspect the data package to find this metadata. Unstructured metadata can include information about (for example) the experimental design, data transformation, sampling method, etc.
Adding metadata in Yoda
Yoda facilitates adding both structured and unstructured metadata to your research data. Entering structured metadata is a prerequisite for archiving a data package. If a folder is published, its structured metadata will be published as well and can be harvested by data catalogues such as DANS NARCIS and DataCite.
In order to add structured metadata to a folder, navigate to the folder in the Yoda portal and press the “Metadata” button.
Once you have added metadata and clicked on the “Save” button, the metadata will be stored in a specific format in the folder. Yoda uses files named “yoda-metadata.json” for this purpose.
Unstructured metadata can be added as a file to the dataset, for example in a "Readme.txt" or "Codebook.pdf" file.
The metadata form
By default, the Yoda metadata form consists of approximately 30 fields. Data managers can optionally customize the metadata form of a community. Please consult the metadata element list for a detailed description of the elements.
All mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk.
Some metadata elements consist of multiple fields. For example, if you enter a person identifier, you should also specify the type of identifier.
Some fields can have multiple values. In order to add a value, press the “+” sign next to the field.
Reusing metadata
Structured metadata is reusable. The metadata form includes a button “Clone from parent folder”. One way to use this feature is to create a project-level folder with several sub-folders for data. Common metadata elements for the project can be entered in the project-level folder. This metadata can then be copied to the data folders.
You can also copy the “yoda-metadata.json” file of a folder to another folder in order to copy its metadata.