Functional and architectural requirements for metadata: Supporting discovery and management of scientific data

The tremendous growth in digital data has led to an increase in metadata initiatives for different types of scientific data, as evident in Ball's survey (2009). Although individual communities have specific needs, there are shared goals that need to be recognized if systems are to effectively support data sharing within and across all domains. This paper considers this need, and explores systems requirements that are essential for metadata supporting the discovery and management of scientific data. The paper begins with an introduction and a review of selected research specific to metadata modeling in the sciences. Next, the paper's goals are stated, followed by the presentation of valuable systems requirements. The results include a base-model with three chief principles: principle of least effort, infrastructure service, and portability. The principles are intended to support "data user" tasks. Results also include a set of defined user tasks and functions, and applications scenarios.