Review of RDF vocabs: DDI-RDF Discovery (Disco), Physical Data Description (PHDD), and Extended Knowledge Organization System (XKOS)

[ Apologies for any cross posting ]

Announcement of the public technical review on draft versions of the RDF vocabularies
DDI-RDF Discovery (Disco), Physical Data Description (PHDD), and Extended Knowledge Organization System (XKOS)


DDI-RDF Discovery (Disco)
Disco is designed to support the discovery of microdata sets and related metadata using RDF technologies in the Web of Linked Data.

Physical Data Description (PHDD)
PHDD describes existing data in rectangular format and CSV format (character-separated values).

Extended Knowledge Organization System (XKOS)
XKOS leverages the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) for managing statistical classifications and concept management systems, since SKOS is widely used.

These vocabularies can be used in the context of Linked Data and statistical classifications. We are interested in comments and any type of critique regarding the vocabularies and their possible interplay with other vocabularies. We would like to achieve robust versions of the vocabularies on the basis of this technical review and then publish them as specifications of the DDI Alliance.

Review until: July 6, 2014
Response email address: ddi-rdf-vocabulary@googlegroups.com<mailto:ddi-rdf-vocabulary@googlegroups.com>
Organization: DDI Alliance (Data Documentation Initiative), http://www.ddialliance.org/


DDI-RDF Discovery (Disco)

Disco defines an RDF Schema vocabulary that enables discovery of research and survey data on the Web. It is based on DDI XML formats of DDI Codebook and DDI Lifecycle.
This specification is designed to support the discovery of microdata sets and related metadata using RDF technologies in the Web of Linked Data. The vocabulary leverages the DDI specification to create a simplified version of this model for the discovery of data files. It is based on a subset of the DDI XML formats of DDI Codebook and DDI Lifecycle. It supports identifying programmatically the relevant datasets for a specific research purpose. Existing DDI XML instances can be transformed into this RDF format and therefore exposed in the Web of Linked Data. The reverse process is not intended, as the developers of the RDF discovery vocabulary have defined DDI-RDF components and reused components of other RDF vocabularies which make sense only in the Linked Data field.
Vocabulary: http://rdf-vocabulary.ddialliance.org/discovery
Further information including git repository, articles, and implementation: http://www.ddialliance.org/Specification/RDF/Discovery


Physical Data Description (PHDD)

PHDD can describe existing data in rectangular format and CSV format (character-separated values). This enables the processing of this kind of data in the Web of Linked Data. PHDD could be used standalone or together with related vocabularies like Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) or Disco. The combination of DCAT, Disco, and PHDD supports the creation of powerful data repositories. A Table in PHDD is equivalent to a Distribution in DCAT. The same applies to a DataFile in Disco.
Vocabulary: http://rdf-vocabulary.ddialliance.org/phdd
Further information including git repository: http://www.ddialliance.org/Specification/RDF/PHDD


Extended Knowledge Organization System (XKOS)

XKOS leverages the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) for managing statistical classifications and concept management systems, since SKOS is widely used. LOD is used to create Web artifacts that machines can interpret, so publishing machine-readable statistical classifications and other concept management systems as SKOS instances is desired. The XKOS developers found that SKOS was insufficient for the problem. No aspect of SKOS was found to be wrong, just incomplete. Therefore, an extension to SKOS, called XKOS, is proposed.

XKOS extends SKOS for the needs of statistical classifications. It does so in two main directions. First, it defines a number of terms that enable the representation of statistical classifications with their structure and textual properties, as well as the relations between classifications. Second, it refines SKOS semantic properties to allow the use of more specific relations between concepts. Those specific relations can be used for the representation of classifications or for any other case where SKOS is employed. XKOS adds the extensions that are desirable to meet the requirements of the statistical community.
Vocabulary: http://rdf-vocabulary.ddialliance.org/xkos
Further information including git repository, articles, and implementation: http://www.ddialliance.org/Specification/RDF/XKOS


Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) and DDI Alliance

The DDI Alliance is a self-sustaining membership organization that develops and promotes the DDI specifications and associated tools, education, and outreach programs. For further information, see: http://www.ddialliance.org/alliance/structure.

The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an effort to create international standards for describing data from the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Currently expressed in XML, the DDI metadata specification now supports the entire research data life cycle (current version DDI Lifecycle 3.2). DDI metadata accompanies and enables data conceptualization, collection, processing, distribution, discovery, analysis, repurposing, and archiving. For further information, see:  http://www.ddialliance.org/Specification/.


Joachim Wackerow on behalf of the authors of DDI-RDF Discovery, PHDD, and XKOS

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GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
Department: Monitoring Society and Social Change
Team: Social Science Metadata Standards
Visiting address: B2 1, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Postal address: P.O. Box 122155, 68072 Mannheim, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)621 1246 262
Fax: +49 (0)621 1246 100
E-mail: joachim.wackerow@gesis.org<mailto:joachim.wackerow@gesis.org>
www.gesis.org<http://www.gesis.org/>