Instructions for registering your dataset in the Veluwe Metadata Portal
Introduction
The Veluwe Metadata Portal is a lightweight registry of datasets – online or offline – collected at the Veluwe. Registering your dataset in the Portal is fairly straightforward as you only have to supply a minimum description of your dataset. This description is captured by a series of metadata fields, and this instruction document will guide you through them one field at a time.
Metadata fields
Metadata is an umbrella term covering a wide array of different pieces of information that together provide a comprehensive understanding of a dataset. The metadata fields in the form of the Veluwe Metadata Portal are intended to be a minimum set that provides other users the answers to the following questions:
- What the data are about?
- Who are the parties involved in the collection and management of the data?
- Where, when, and how were the data collected?
- How can the data be used by others?
- Fields marked with (*) are required, which means that they must be filled in order to register your dataset.
- Other fields are recommended, which means that they should be filled but that there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore that field.
Metadata submission date (*)
Metadata submission date is the date at which you register your dataset in the Veluwe Metadata Portal. This date is automatically generated to be the current date of your computer system.
Language (*)
Language indicates the language you wish to use for describing your dataset through the form. Select one of: English, Dutch.
English is recommended to increase the readability of your description to non-Dutch speaking ecologists in the Netherlands.
Metadata provider (*)
The metadata provider is the person who creates, provides and documents the metadata for a dataset. When you are filling the form, you are the metadata provider.
Name (*)
The first name and last name of the metadata provider.
Organisation name
The name of the organisation the metadata provider is affiliated with.
It is recommended to provide an organisation name so that users can place the metadata provider in perspective of other parties involved (see Creator or Contact point) or make a distinction between different people with the same first and last name.
Email address
The email address of the metadata provider.
It is recommended to provide an email address for the metadata provider so that the admins of the Veluwe Metadata Portal have a contact point in case of questions about the registration of the dataset.
Creator (*)
The creator is the author of the dataset, and as such, responsible for the intellectual input in its creation. The creator can be a person or an organisation. The creator may be considered the same as the custodian (or owner) of a dataset.
Organisation name (*)
The name of the organisation that is responsible for the creation of the dataset, or, in the cases that the organisation is a person, the organisation they are affiliated with.
Name
If the creator is a person, their first name and last name.
Email address
If the creator is a person, their email address.
If the creator is an organisation, it is recommended to provide a general contact email address of that organisation.
Contact point (*)
The contact point is a person or a position at an organisation (e.g., data steward, data manager) whom can be contacted for questions about the use and/or interpretation of a dataset.
Name (*)
If the contact point is a person, their first and last name. If the contact point is a position, a description of that position.
It is recommended to refer to a data steward, data manager, or alike, if the person that holds that role changes frequently, especially if they can be contacted via a position-specific (non-personal) email address.
Organisation name
The name of the organisation that the contact point is affiliated with.
Email address (*)
The email address of the contact point.
Title (*)
A brief description of the dataset, providing enough details to differentiate it from other, similar datasets.
It is recommended to include the type(s) of data collected, the location, and the time period.
Description (*)
A detailed description of the contents of the dataset. The description will be used by full-text searches, and it should be rich with descriptive text. Multiple paragraphs may be included. It should contain enough information to allow potential data users to understand the data and decide on its fitness for use. In particular, descriptions should focus on the “what”, “when”, and “where” information, general taxonomic information, as well as whether the data collection is ongoing or completed. Some general methods description is appropriate, and broad classes of measured parameters should also be included.
Keywords
Keywords are commonly used words or phrases to describe a dataset, similar to keywords used to describe a scientific article. Keywords may relate to taxonomy, habitat, geography, or research themes.
It is recommended to use keywords from a controlled vocabulary, which helps aggregate keyword sets used in specific disciplines or domains, and reduce ambiguity in the meaning and understanding of keywords. See examples of controlled vocabularies here.
Resource type (*)
The resource type indicates the nature or genre of the dataset.
It is recommended to use resource types from a controlled vocabulary. One such vocabulary is the Resource Type vocabulary of COAR, which includes examples as:
experimental data, genomic data, geospatial data, observational data, recorded data, simulation data, survey data, image, sound.
License
The license determines what rights may be available to users when using the data.
It is recommended to license your dataset. When datasets are shared online this is often required, but also for offline datasets it is highly recommended. A set of commonly used licenses are the Creative Commons licenses. Their interactive license chooser can help you select the appropriate license for your work.
Access rights (*)
The access rights indicate how the dataset can be accessed.
It is recommended to use access rights from a controlled vocabulary. COAR’s Access Rights vocabulary provides the following options: embargoed access, metadata only access, open access, restricted access.
Publisher name
This field is only relevant for datasets shared online.
The publisher name is the name of the organisation that made a citable version of the dataset available online.
If relevant, it is recommended to refer to the Research Organization Registry (ROR) ID.
Dataset ID
This field is only relevant for datasets shared online.
The dataset ID is a unique identifier for the dataset as provided by the publisher. In most cases, this is a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Landing page
This field is only relevant for datasets shared online.
The landing page is the web page (URL) that can be navigated to in a web browser to gain access to the dataset.
In case the dataset has a DOI, navigating to the DOI URL (https://doi.org/prefix/suffix) will redirect you to another web address which is the landing page.
Start date (*)
The start date is the period of time when the data collection started.
End date
The end date is the period of time when the data collection ended. If data collection is ongoing, select the latest period of time that is included in the current version of the dataset or leave the field empty.
Temporal resolution
The temporal resolution is the minimum temporal separation between records in the dataset, not the frequency with which dataset as a whole is updated.
Spatial coverage (*)
The spatial coverage is the geographic extent that is covered by the dataset.
There are two ways in which you can provide the spatial coverage.
- Map. Through the interactive map you can draw one or more bounding boxes and/or polygons.
- File. You can upload a zip file of the 4 files that make up a shapefile:
.shp, the file containing the vector geometry;.shx, the index file;.dbf, the file containing the attributes, i.e., vector descriptions in table format;.prj, the file describing the projected coordinate system
In case the dataset includes distinct spatial locations, it is recommended to draw each location as a separate polygon.
Spatial resolution
The spatial resolution is the minimum spatial separation between records in the dataset.
It is recommended to indicate the spatial resolution in meters.
Taxonomic coverage
The taxonomic coverage is a description of the taxa covered by the dataset.
It is recommended to use taxonomic names rather than English or Dutch common names.
Questions or feedback
Do you wonder whether your dataset is suitable for the Veluwe Metadata Portal? Do you have questions about the form? Or would you like some help with filling the form? Please reach out to Stefan Vriend.
The Veluwe Metadata Portal is a product of LTER-LIFE. LTER-LIFE is developing a virtual lab in which ecologists can link data, models, and other methods of analysis into integrative ecological research, and eventually build digital twins of ecosystems.