Re: [dxwg] question > is a software solution a dcat:Dataset? (#1221)

So here's what I think needs to be made clear:

There are catalogs of metadata for things in the real world - a library catalog is an example of this. A catalog of machine parts or an office supply inventory is also such an example. In this case there is no dcat:Distribution because there is no digital file to point to. (Note that a library catalog is often today a mix of descriptions of non-digital and digital objects.)

There are catalogs of digital "things", like a catalog of scanned images. In this case there is a dcat:Distribution: the scanned thing. There may also be a metadata "record" describing the scanned thing.

I would like to see those modeled in DCAT because I think that getting this discussion more "real" matters. Let's show our work. I can provide examples. For the first case:

https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=27861&recCount=25&recPointer=2&bibId=4749563

And for the second case:
https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1941005_ms028/

Don't worry about coding these precisely, just mock up what data would be where in the DCAT model using any pseudo-code or diagram of your choosing.

I am wondering if one would use the class dcat:Dataset for these resources, and if so then I would say that the definition could be confusing:

"A collection of data, published or curated by a single agent, and available for access or download in one or more representations."

since most people are not going to consider a single file a "collection of data". A single file is not a dataset by this definition. Now you might say that a catalog represents a collection of data, which works, IMO. But dcat:Dataset does not represent the catalog, it is at the logical level of the single "thing" - the distribution. Which is where we started with all of this - Is "dataset" anything digital? If so, the definition of dataset needs to change, to remove "collection", if nothing else. 

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Received on Sunday, 29 March 2020 14:13:40 UTC