Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WorldFAIR (Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice)
Période du rapport: 2022-06-01 au 2023-02-28
The objective of ‘WorldFAIR: Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice’ is to advance implementation of the FAIR principles, particularly in relation to interoperability and reusability of data within and across research domains. The project is conceived as responding to Recommendation 4 of the Turning FAIR into Reality report, which identified the need to ‘Develop interoperability frameworks for FAIR sharing within disciplines and for interdisciplinary research’. WorldFAIR is working with a set of eleven domain and cross-domain Case Studies, carefully chosen from existing CODATA and RDA activities to provide maximum impact. Each Case Study will develop an interoperability framework, recommendations and/or a FAIR implementation for their discipline or interdisciplinary research area. Led by CODATA, a coordinating and synthesis activity has been supporting each Case Study in understanding their requirements through the completion of FAIR Implementation Profiles. In turn these insights will be incorporated into the development of a Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework and more domain-sensitive recommendations for FAIR assessment and benchmarks.
Each Case Study produced a FAIR Implementation Profile, in some instances more than one. FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs) are a methodology, developed by GO FAIR, through which a research community expresses its practices and decisions around the FAIR principles. The approach involves a series of questions on how the community makes data and metadata FAIR and what ‘FAIR Enabling Resources’ (FERs) are used. The question set can be used for a process of self-inquiry by a given community to better understand current practice and—potentially—to identify gaps and priority activities where useful to improve their FAIR practices. The completed FIP(s) subsequently help the Case Studies identify any gaps and areas requiring further attention. Towards the end of the project, a second FIP or set of FIPs will help characterise any progress made in understanding and implementation of FAIR. The experience of the WorldFAIR project in using FIPs is described in the report (D2.1) ‘FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs) in WorldFAIR: What Have We Learnt?’ (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7378109). That report situates the process of creating FIPs, as an exercise in community reflection, in the context of the development of the WorldFAIR methodology.
Building on the insights from the FIPs exercises, the priority now for the project, and particularly the coordinating function led by CODATA, is the development of the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework. The Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) is an emerging idea for a set of guidelines around domain-agnostic standards for supporting the implementation of interoperability and reusability of FAIR data, especially across domain- and institutional boundaries. The CDIF aims to provide a list of standards in a range of functional roles to support the next level of interoperability, but giving domains the “lingua franca” against which to map domain-specific standards and ontologies. Standards such as Schema.org DCAT, SKOS, PROV-O, and DDI-CDI, or protocols or emergent standards such as I-ADOPT, are being suggested. The functional roles include the description of units and measurements, the relation of variables to concepts and consistent descriptions of data structure. Two draft working documents, not deliverables, have been prepared during the reporting period (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7652742) and an Advisory Group and Working Group recruited to take the work forward.
On 20 March 2023, a workshop ‘The WorldFAIR Project’s cross-domain interoperability framework’ was held as a co-located event to the RDA Plenary meeting in Gothenburg. Attended by over 60 participants, in person and online, the workshop provided an opportunity to update the community on the objectives and methodology of the WorldFAIR project, the vision for CDIF as a lingua franca, and progress made by the Working Group in laying out functional activities, identifying candidate standards and the current priorities and subgroups.
As well as preparing FIPs, each of the WorldFAIR Case Studies have been pursuing their work to articulate FAIR requirements in their fields and propose recommendations and interoperability frameworks. A number of the Case Studies have undertaken engagement and consultation activities.
Building on the insights from the FIPs exercises, the priority now for the project, and particularly the coordinating function led by CODATA, is the development of the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework. The Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) is an emerging idea for a set of guidelines around domain-agnostic standards for supporting the implementation of interoperability and reusability of FAIR data, especially across domain- and institutional boundaries. The CDIF aims to provide a list of standards in a range of functional roles to support the next level of interoperability, but giving domains the “lingua franca” against which to map domain-specific standards and ontologies. Standards such as Schema.org DCAT, SKOS, PROV-O, and DDI-CDI, or protocols or emergent standards such as I-ADOPT, are being suggested. The functional roles include the description of units and measurements, the relation of variables to concepts and consistent descriptions of data structure. Two draft working documents, not deliverables, have been prepared during the reporting period (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7652742) and an Advisory Group and Working Group recruited to take the work forward.
On 20 March 2023, a workshop ‘The WorldFAIR Project’s cross-domain interoperability framework’ was held as a co-located event to the RDA Plenary meeting in Gothenburg. Attended by over 60 participants, in person and online, the workshop provided an opportunity to update the community on the objectives and methodology of the WorldFAIR project, the vision for CDIF as a lingua franca, and progress made by the Working Group in laying out functional activities, identifying candidate standards and the current priorities and subgroups.
As well as preparing FIPs, each of the WorldFAIR Case Studies have been pursuing their work to articulate FAIR requirements in their fields and propose recommendations and interoperability frameworks. A number of the Case Studies have undertaken engagement and consultation activities.
In the first reporting period, three Case Studies have published analyses or surveys of FAIR requirements in their field. This advances our understanding of current practice and how FAIR practice may be improved in the following areas of research: social surveys, ocean sciences and cultural heritage. Each of these Case Studies is international in scope, so there are benefits and impact in strengthening bi-directional connections around FAIR practice and the use of recognised standards or specifications for data and metadata in these fields. As the project progresses, the remaining eight Case Studies will produce comparable analyses, broadening our knowledge of practice and requirements across a range of research areas.
The first WorldFAIR Policy Brief makes presents a forceful argument for investment in FAIR practices, particularly data description and fine-grained metadata, to meet two important use cases: data integration or combination for cross-domain grand challenges, and more intelligent, active and fine-grained management of access to data containing some sensitive information. One of the mechanisms that can assist with this is the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework, which will be presented as a major WorldFAIR deliverable towards the end of the project.
The first WorldFAIR Policy Brief makes presents a forceful argument for investment in FAIR practices, particularly data description and fine-grained metadata, to meet two important use cases: data integration or combination for cross-domain grand challenges, and more intelligent, active and fine-grained management of access to data containing some sensitive information. One of the mechanisms that can assist with this is the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework, which will be presented as a major WorldFAIR deliverable towards the end of the project.