hortus:fair:creation
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Table of Contents
HOWTO Create your own metadata sets
Metadata Management feature
| Metadata Management action | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Browse available metadata formats | Open My Workspace → Metadata Management to view existing formats grouped by governance level: Standard, Personal, and Community. | This gives you a clear overview of what already exists before creating something new. |
| Search and sort existing formats | Use the available search and sorting tools to explore metadata formats more efficiently. | It helps you identify relevant formats faster and avoids unnecessary duplication. |
| Inspect an existing format | Open an existing metadata format to review its fields, data types, and structure before deciding whether to reuse or adapt it. | This helps you understand whether a format already covers your needs and supports consistency across projects. |
| Reuse an existing structure | Before creating a new format, review existing templates and expand their field definitions to see whether one can be reused directly or duplicated. | Reusing established structures improves interoperability, keeps metadata more coherent across teams, and reduces redundant work. |
| Create a new metadata format | If no available format matches your needs, use + New Metadata Format to start a new reusable metadata template. | This is especially useful for advanced users and projects with domain-specific description requirements. |
Creating a metadata set: complete workflow
| Metadata creation action | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Open Metadata Management | Go to My Workspace → Metadata Management, then stay in the Metadata Sets Format tab. This is the workspace where metadata formats are created and managed. | It centralises all metadata templates in one area and makes governance levels immediately visible. |
| Start a new metadata format | Click + New Metadata Format to launch the creation wizard for a new reusable metadata template. | This is the entry point for building a format that can later be reused when describing Marketplace resources. |
| Step 1 | ||
| Enter main information | In Step 1 – Main information, fill in the Name field (required) and optionally add a Description explaining the purpose of the format. | A clear name and description make the format easier to recognise, maintain, and reuse later. |
| Choose the governance level | In the same first step, choose whether the metadata format is Personal, Community, or Standard. | Governance level determines whether the format is meant only for you, for a research community, or as a broader platform reference. |
| Step 2 | ||
| Choose how to start | In Step 2 – Creation mode, choose between Create from scratch or Duplicate Metadata. | This defines whether you want to design the structure entirely yourself or start from an existing template. |
| Create from scratch | Select Create from scratch when you want to define all fields manually from the beginning. | This is useful when your project has very specific metadata needs not covered by existing models. |
| Duplicate an existing format | Select Duplicate Metadata when you want to reuse all or part of an existing format, such as a recognised structure like Dublin Core, and adapt it. | Duplication saves time and keeps your structure aligned with already accepted metadata practices. |
| Expand and select fields from an existing format | In duplication mode, expand an existing format and use Add all or select specific fields to include them in your new metadata format draft. | This lets you inherit useful field structures without having to recreate them manually. |
| Step 3 | ||
| Define the metadata fields | In Step 3 – Metadata Set Definition, add the fields that will be used later to describe resources. For each field, define at least a Name and a Type / datatype. | These fields form the actual structure of your metadata format and determine what information users will later provide. |
| Action | What it does | Why it matters |
| Set field names | Give each field a clear and meaningful Name. | Good field names improve usability and help future contributors understand what kind of data is expected. |
| Choose the datatype | Assign a Type / datatype to each field, such as text or date. | Datatypes ensure that information is entered in a consistent and technically valid way. |
| Add a controlled vocabulary | Where relevant, define a controlled vocabulary for a field so that users can select from predefined values instead of entering free text. | Controlled vocabularies improve consistency, reduce ambiguity, and make later filtering or reuse more reliable. |
| Add a field description | Add a short explanatory description for each field when needed. | Field descriptions help users understand what the field means and what kind of information should be entered. |
| Step 4 | ||
| Preview the metadata format | In Step 4 – Preview and Save, review the complete table of field names, data types, and descriptions before saving. | Previewing helps you detect structural problems or inconsistencies before the format is stored as a draft. |
| Save the format as a draft | Click Save to store the new metadata format. After saving, the system creates it as a Draft in My Contributions. | Saving as a draft lets you continue working safely without publishing the format immediately. |
| After the draft creation | ||
| Open My Contributions | Go to My Workspace → My Contributions → Metadata to access your newly saved metadata drafts. | This separates work-in-progress formats from submitted ones and makes moderation status easy to track. |
| View the draft | Open the draft in read-only mode to inspect all its fields and structure. | Viewing the draft lets you verify what was saved before making more changes or submitting it. |
| Edit the draft | ||
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Metadata lifecycle
Metadata formats also follow a lifecycle:
- Draft → creation phase
- Submitted → under review
- Approved → reusable
- Updated → versioned changes
Good practices
- use clear field definitions
- avoid redundancy
- use controlled vocabularies where possible
- ensure consistency across records
hortus/fair/creation.1775563886.txt.gz · Last modified: by savino.frisardi