Non-technical guide to Release 7

RIF-CS Schema and other changes, December 2011

Key messages

On 7 December 2011 ANDS releases some improvements to its systems. Some of these changes will have an impact on the work of people and organisations who publish research data descriptions to Research Data Australia.

This is a non-technical description of those changes. For more technical information, please see ANDS Technical Resources page. Please also review the Impact Guide below.

If you have any questions about the information in this document or following the release, please contact your ANDS liaison officer or services@ands.org.au.

Topics addressed in this document

Usability and Research Data Australia display enhancements

• Option to relate all records from a data source to a single "keystone" record
• Data source timezone selection on harvest scheduler
• HTML text formatting
• Identifiers transformed into clickable links
• Harvester error messages
• Date format examples for temporal coverage on manual record entry screens
  
• Enhancements to warning and error messages on manual record entry screens

Schema changes

• Changes to reflect RIF-CS updates (v1.3.0)

Expanded ANDS online services

• Controlled vocabulary service
• Production Digital Object Identifier (DOI) service.

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Usability and Research Data Australia display enhancements

Further information will be provided at the time of release.

Option to relate all records from a data source to a single "keystone" record (create primary relationships)

This feature will enable data source administrators to link all records within their data source to a single "keystone" record. The keystone record, to which all primary relations are made, will be identified by its key. Data source administrators will be able to opt in to this feature from within their Data Source administration screen. More information on creating primary relationships

Data source timezone selection on harvest scheduler

This feature will enable data source administrators to specify a time zone, and a time within that time zone, for their harvest to take place.

This feature will not effect existing data sources as the time zone for all data sources is currently set to GMT +11:00 and this will remain the default. Data Source Administrators will need to update their data source account page if they wish to change the time zone or harvest time. More information on scheduling harvests

HTML text formatting

Changes have been made to the harvester and the manual input screens to enable users to add rich HTML content within descriptions and addresses as part of their research data descriptions. More information on text formatting

Identifiers transformed into clickable links

Research Data Australia users will notice that identifiers such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and Persistent URLs (PURLs) will be transformed into navigable links when displayed within Research Data Australia record pages.

Harvester error messages

Changes have been made to the harvester so that unsuccessful harvests will generate error messages in plain English. We hope this will allow Data Source Administrators of all levels of technical expertise to identify and correct problems with their harvests, including errors in record XML, with less technical support.

Enhancements to warning and error messages on manual record entry screens

Changes have been made to the warning and error messages displayed within the manual data entry screens. The changes will ensure clarity to users and consistency across all messages generated within these screens.

Date format examples for temporal coverage on manual record entry screen

Examples of the required format for dates for describing temporal coverage have been added to the Coverage manual data entry screen. No work is required from Data Source Administrators around this change.

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RIF-CS Schema updates (RIF-CS Schema v1.3.0)

Updates on RIF-CS are available from RIF-CS Schema Change News

Various updates have been made to RIF-CS to reflect the changes requested by the RIF-CS Advisory Board.

The RIF-CS schema is now at version 1.3.0, and the latest suite of improvements includes the following:

• Rights
  The rights element contains descriptions of rights, licences and access rights for a collection, in both text and URI formats.
  Rights information is displayed prominently on Research Data Australia to support researchers in reuse of research collections.
  See the Content Providers Guide for more information on the Rights element.
  
  
• Existence dates
  Existence dates record the start and end dates of the entity being described.
  Existence dates for Parties support the ARDC Party Infrastructure: knowing a researcher's birth date or year makes it easier to match party descriptions correctly within the NLA's Trove People and Organisations database.
  For Activities, existence dates will support future timeline searching and filtered searching; eg, search only for completed projects.
  See the Content Providers Guide for more information on existence dates.
  
  
• Citation of datasets and collections
  With the addition of the Publisher element, the Citation element now supports many citation formats in full. Citation of datasets is expected to promote recognition of the value of data as a research output as well as promote re-use.
  ANDS is also exploring ways to streamline the provision of metadata for DOI minting and for inclusion in Research Data Australia, and this change allows full mapping for the mandatory DataCite metadata required for DOIs.
  See the Content Providers Guide for more information on citation of datasets and collections.
  
  
• Related information
  Related information that is located outside the ANDS Collections Registry can be described using a URI pointing to a webpage that provides contextual information about the object or entity being described.
  This release adds new suggested vocabularies for;
  —information that supports re-use of data, such as data definitions, instrument calibration or settings, units of measurement, sample descriptions, experimental parameters, methodology, data analysis techniques, or data derivation rules.
  —data quality information such as data quality statements or summaries of data quality issues affecting the data.
  See the Content Providers Guide for more information on the Related information element.

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Expanded ANDS online services

Updates on ANDS online services are available from ANDS Online Services News

CIte My Data (DOI) service

The existing pilot ANDS DOI service, Cite My Data, was transitioned into a production service on 10 November 2011.
For more information on the DOI service, please see:

ANDS Guide on Data Citation  |  Cite My Data Service  |  Cite My Data M2M Service Technical Description (PDF 750kb) |  ANDS Guide on The Digital Object Identifier System and DOI Names

Controlled vocabulary service

The Controlled Vocabulary Service is a machine to machine service allowing users to specify specific vocabulary lists when their records are harvested to the ANDS Collections registry. There will be several phases to enhancements around controlled vocabularies. Initially the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Codes (ANZSRC) will be offered. Contact services@ands.org.au for more information about this service.

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Impact Guide

Audience	System	Change Description	Impact	Action	Timing	Support information	Contact Points
Who does it impact?	Which system is changing?	How is it changing?            Why is it changing?	How will it impact you?	What do you need to do?	When will this impact you?	Where can you get more information?	Who can I talk to about this?
Anyone involved in providing RIF-CS data,    (researchers, or data librarians, or technical support personnel).	Register My Data	The RIF-CS data entry interface warning and error messages will be enhanced to help distinguish between message types.  This enhancement is a result of user feedback.	Clearer distinction between "required" and "recommended" warnings.	Nothing	December 2011	Metadata Content Requirements http://ands.org.au/resource/metadata-content-requirements.html	For guidance on how to create a quality RIF-CS record, please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Register My Data	Format examples provided to help with input of temporal coverage data in the manual data entry interface.  This change is a result of user requests.	Examples available to help with temporal cverage formatting.	Nothing	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/guides/cpguide/cpgcoverage.html	For help with choosing temporal formats and types, please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Register My Data	Any leading and trailing white spaces will be stripped from manually entered records or fields in the Data Source administration area. This change is a result of feedback from users about display problems in Research Data Australia, especially unresolvable hyperlinks.	Less checking when entering RIF-CS metadata manually, particularly URLs.	Nothing	December 2011	See contacts	For Research Data Australia display issues, contact services@ands.org.au, otherwise please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Register My Data	Limited HTML formatting has been enabled within the Description and Address elements of RIF-CS.  This change is a result of user feedback requiring stronger support  for text formatting.	Opportunity to fine tune how descriptions and addresses will be displayed.	Consider whether to take advantage of the opportunity.	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/guides/cpguide/cpgtextformat.html	For problems with parsing formatting information, please contact services@ands.org.au, otherwise please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Register My Data	The RIF-CS schema has been extended and a new version (v1.30) can be ingested automatically via harvest or entered manually.  Changes were recommended by the RIF-CS Advisory Board.	Opportunity to provide better rights and licence information, and richer descriptions including existence dates, people as collection subjects using termIdentifier, publisher in citation, re-use and data quality links in related information.	Consider upgrading to RIF-CS v1.3.0.	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/resource/rifcs_updates.html	For guidance on the value of RIF-CS v1.3.0 for your organisation, please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Research Data Australia	Identifiers that are resolvable (handle, doi, purl, uri, ark, nla) will be displayed as resolvable links.  This enhancement is a result of user feedback in support of enabling web linking by default.	URI should still be  provided in "http://" form, for other types no changes are needed.	Nothing	December 2011	See contacts	For problems with Research Data Australia displays, please contact services@ands.org.au, otherwise please contact your ANDS client liaison.
Data Source Administrators	Register My Data	The harvest scheduler can now specify a particular time zone for harvest.  This option is provided to overcome confusion over aligning schedules to Zulu time.	Instead of having to schedule harvests with Zulu time, you can use your own time zone. Much easier to understand when harvests will occur.	Nothing unless you want to change the default time zone (currently set to GMT +11.00).	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/guides/cpguide/cpgdsaaccount.html#harvester	If you are having problems with scheduling your harvests, please contact: services@ands.org.au, otherwise please contact your ANDS client liaison.
	Register My Data	The new ANDS production system (from September 2011), is ideally accessed through the use of the Australian Access Federation (AAF) system.  This change takes advantage of national infrastructure.	Over time national authentication will enable researchers to use national eResearch infrastructure and services easily.	Users with an AAF account need to pass their token and email address onto their client liaison to arrange for access to the new production system.  Users without an AAF account should contact services@ands.org.au for help and advice.	December 2011	ANDS FAQ http://ands.org.au/resource/ands-faq.html	If your institution is a member of the AAF, your ANDS Client Liaison can help. Otherwise, please contact services@ands.org.au
	Register My Data	The harvester error log will change to a graphic view, include 'plain English' and suggestions for possible solutions and/or links to more information.  This enhancement is a result of user feedback and need to support Data Source Administrators to undertake trouble-shooting.	Should help Data Source Administrators to trouble-shoot and resolve harvesting issues directly.	Nothing	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/guides/cpguide/cpgdsaaccount.html#harvester	If you have problems with resolving harvest errors, please contact services@ands.org.au
	Register My Data	Optional ability to create primary relationships that link all records within a data source to up to two records.	You will be able to link all your records to your organisation's party record or up to two records of your choice.	Consider the impact this may have on current project requirements and/or in the provision of RIF-CS Party records ongoing.	December 2011	http://ands.org.au/guides/cpguide/cpgdsaaccount.html#primary	Please contact your ANDS client liaison for advice.
Technical support staff	ANDS Online Services	New Cite My Data service can mint DOIs for datasets if DataCite-required metadata is available.	DOIs mean that research data can be cited and included in research output metrics, adding to researcher recognition.	Consider introducing DOI service for your institution.	As required	Cite My Data service http://ands.org.au/services/cite-my-data.html; Cite My Data M2M Service Technical Description (PDF 750kb)	Please contact your ANDS client liaison for advice.
	ANDS software	Updated release of a generic downloadable version of Research Data Australia, packaged with an updated ORCA framework, SOLR and harvester.	Partner organisations can customise ANDS software to meet their own needs.	Consider whether this software would be useful in your organisation.	As required	http://ands.org.au/resource/techdocs.html	Please contact services@ands.org.au