Implementing interoperability - Metadata Schema and Crosswalk Registry approach to FAIR metadata mappings

Abstract

Technical interoperability between information systems is usually thought to be solved in a dedicated manner by linking two or more technical systems together. However, in the context of research data and services management, the interoperability challenge can and should be more broadly scoped as that of interoperability between different descriptive systems. This leads to a need for flexible mapping between sets of descriptors and their values such as we see with the practice of metadata cross- walking. In this paper, we are presenting a Metadata Schema and Crosswalk Registry (MSCR) implementation that can play an important part in implementing interoperability. The development of the MSCR is taking place in the context of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and it aims to provide concrete solutions to information heterogeneity on semantic, structural, and syntactic levels. MSCR can be used to create a FAIR registry of schemas and crosswalks, which together provide the basis for validating and converting metadata documents in different formats. Although the MSCR is being developed within the research data domain, applying its features to other domains, such as the exchange of educational information is straightforward. Higher education institutions (HEIs) could use the MSCR to not only better communicate the already existing work towards interoperability such as mapping documentation between standards for exchanging learning and research-related information, but also to enhance the concrete data integration infrastructure through the use of MSCR-managed schemas and crosswalks.