Welcome to the
Metadata for Machines resource page
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The M4M Workshop concept
Making it easy for humans to make metadata for machines
Metadata for Machines (M4M) workshops are agile, hackathon-style events that bring together domain experts (who are able and willing to represent a domain community) with FAIR metadata experts (data stewards) who guide a discussion leading to the metadata requirements that meet the FAIR data needs of that domain community. M4M Workshops are lightweight, fast-track (often 1-day) events where policy and domain experts can build new, or make informed choices regarding the reuse of already existing metadata schema. Although M4M Workshops can serve many purposes, they are usually intended to kick-start FAIRification efforts with minimally viable metadata components that are modular, and can be later extended as needed.
M4M Worskhops have two objectives:
- First, most M4M Workshops focus on a simple but extensible conceptual model and RDF schema that solve clearly identified FAIR-related metadata goals for that domain. Based on numerous considerations, the metadata expert will recommend if a new schema should be created or if an existing schema can be efficiently repurposed. In most cases, it is also possible to employ metadata modeling tools to build reusable metadata templates following that schema providing user-friendly interfaces and input forms. This will later allow domain experts who may not have technical skills, to nonetheless create metadata instances without expert supervision.
- The second objective of a M4M Workshop is the deposition of the defined metadata schema/template into a FAIR repository, where they can be easily found and reused by other communities that often have similar metadata requirements. The overall goal of a M4M Workshop is a public Declaration by the domain community to the use and reuse of particular FAIR metadata schema/templates. This declaration could take the form of a FAIR Implementation Profile or a statement in a Data Management Plan.
M4M Workshops draw on the deep knowledge collected in many scientific communities but also ensure coordination with the metadata components chosen in other M4M workshops. Collectively, the M4M workshop series result in recommendations about metadata and an Open repository of machine-ready, easy to use and interoperable FAIR metadata templates and components. Anyone can access this ’sea’ of community specific metadata templates/components, re-use them as they see fit, and deploy them using metadata editors and other data capture tools.
It is hoped that the M4M workshop can allow researchers to make routine use of machine-actionable FAIR metadata in a broad range of fields.
How to GO FAIR
The Three-point FAIRification Framework provides practical “how to” guidance to stakeholders seeking to go FAIR. More information on how the M4M fits into this framework can be found on the GO FAIR website.
FAQ
Should you have any questions about M4M workshops, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions.
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M4M workshops overview
| Workshop | Date | Community | Topic | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4M.1 | October 2019 | Inaugural | Setting up the concept | GO FAIR |
| M4M.2 | January 2020 | Funders | ZonMw + HRB | GO FAIR |
| M4M.3 | January 2020 | PreClinicalTrails | pre-registration form | GO FAIR |
| M4M.4 | April-Sept 2020 | VODAN Africa | Metadata for the FDP | Phillips Foundation |
| M4M.5 | Summer 2020 | AnnaEE | Climate data | DeiC |
| M4M.6 | Summer 2020 | DTU and others | Wind Energy | DeiC |
| M4M.7 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Care (Treatment) / Prevention | ZonMw |
| M4M.8 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Diagnostic / Testing – Recordings | ZonMw |
| M4M.9 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Prognosis / Risk assessments | ZonMw |
| M4M.10 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Virus / Immunology / Molecular – Recordings | ZonMw |
| M4M.11 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Organisational / Process related – Recordigs | ZonMw |
| M4M.12 | November 2020 | COVID-19 Program | Socio-economic / Behavioral – Recordings | ZonMw |
| M4M.13 | February 2021 | COVID-19 Program | Vocab | ZonMw |
| M4M.14 | February 2021 | COVID-19 Program | Vocab | ZonMw |
| M4M.15 | June 2021 | COVID-19 Program | Rapid M4M for datasets | ZonMw |
| M4M.16 | June 2021 | COVID-19 Program | I-ADOPT M4M for variables | ZonMw |
| M4M.17 | June 2021 | ID & AMR | R4R, COVID—>ID&AMR | ZonMw |
| M4M.18 | Sept 2021 | INCENTIVE | Influenca vaccine – Recordings | EU/Horizon2020 |
| M4M.19 | December 2021 | NICEST2 | Climate data | EOSC Nordic |
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ZonMw and FAIR metadata
M4M workshops for the ZonMw COVID & ID/AMR projects
Within the ZonMw COVID Program, data stewards have participated in a series of M4M Workshops on behalf of the COVID Program researchers. The data stewards have been guided by the M4M Facilitator Team (John Graybeal, Barbara Magagna, Kristina Hettne, Nikola Vasiljevic and Erik Schultes) and supported by a team of experts: Margreet Bloemers (ZonMw), Mijke Jetten (DTL/Health-RI), Jeroen Beliën (Amsterdam UMC, loc. VUmc), Rita Azevedo (Lygature/Health-RI), Erik Schultes (GO FAIR Foundation).
ZonMw COVID-19 Community
Guidelines for completing CEDAR forms
Link to the guidelines document
CEDAR forms – to be filled out
Project Admin form [CEDAR account required]
Project Content form [CEDAR account required]
Data Catalogue form [CEDAR account required]
Dataset form [CEDAR account required]
Data Distribution form [CEDAR account required]
CEDAR forms in OpenView – easy way to view/share forms
Project Admin form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Project Content form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Data Catalogue form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Dataset form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Data Distribution form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
BioPortal vocabularies
ZonMw Generic Terms
ZonMw COVID-19 Vocabulary
ZonMw ID & AMR Community
Guidelines for completing CEDAR forms
Link to the guidelines document
CEDAR forms – to be filled out
Project Admin form [CEDAR account required]
Project Content form [CEDAR account required]
Collection Admin form [CEDAR account required]
Collection Content form [CEDAR account required]
CEDAR forms in OpenView – easy way to view/share forms
Project Admin form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Project Content form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Collection Admin form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
Collection Content form in OpenView [no CEDAR account required]
BioPortal vocabularies
ID&AMR Vocabulary
Useful links
- ZonMw’s news item on their approach to optimize reuse of COVID-19 related data
- ZonMw’s new item on FAIR metadata about the COVID-19-projects available on COVID-19 Data Portal of Health-RI
- Health-RI’s Workshops on delivering FAIR metadata for COVID-19 data portal
- Health-RI’s information on the COVID-19 data portal
- Health-RI direct link to the COVID-19 data portal
- Information on the workshops can also be found on the GO FAIR Foundation website on M4Ms.