<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_008_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b1Aa"><h3>Purpose</h3><p>The purpose of this paper is to discuss provenance description of metadata terms and metadata vocabularies as a set of metadata terms. Provenance is crucial information to keep track of changes of metadata terms and metadata vocabularies for their consistent maintenance.</p></sec><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_009_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b2Aa"><h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3><p>The W3C PROV standard for general provenance description and Resource Description Framework (RDF) are adopted as the base models to formally define provenance description for metadata vocabularies.</p></sec><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_010_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b3Aa"><h3>Findings</h3><p>This paper defines a few primitive change types of metadata terms, and a provenance description model of the metadata terms based on the primitive change types. We also provide examples of provenance description in RDF graphs to show the proposed model.</p></sec><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_011_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b4Aa"><h3>Research limitations</h3><p>The model proposed in this paper is defined based on a few primitive relationships (e.g. addition, deletion, and replacement) between pre-version and post-version of a metadata term. The model is simplified and the practical changes of metadata terms can be more complicated than the primitive relationships discussed in the model.</p></sec><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_012_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b5Aa"><h3>Practical implications</h3><p>Formal provenance description of metadata vocabularies can improve maintainability of metadata vocabularies over time. Conventional maintenance of metadata terms is the maintenance of documents of terms. The proposed model enables effective and automated tracking of change history of metadata vocabularies using simple formal description scheme defined based on widely-used standards.</p></sec><sec id="j_jdis-2017-0007_s_013_w2aab2b8c36b1b7b1aab1c15b6Aa"><h3>Originality/value</h3><p>Changes in metadata vocabularies may cause inconsistencies in the longterm use of metadata. This paper proposes a simple and formal scheme of provenance description of metadata vocabularies. The proposed model works as the basis of automated maintenance of metadata terms and their vocabularies and is applicable to various types of changes.</p></sec></abstract>

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss provenance description of metadata terms and metadata vocabularies as a set of metadata terms. Provenance is crucial information to keep track of changes of metadata terms and metadata vocabularies for their consistent maintenance.Design/methodology/approachThe W3C PROV standard for general provenance description and Resource Description Framework (RDF) are adopted as the base models to formally define provenance description for metadata vocabularies.FindingsThis paper defines a few primitive change types of metadata terms, and a provenance description model of the metadata terms based on the primitive change types. We also provide examples of provenance description in RDF graphs to show the proposed model.Research limitationsThe model proposed in this paper is defined based on a few primitive relationships (e.g. addition, deletion, and replacement) between pre-version and post-version of a metadata term. The model is simplified and the practical changes of metadata terms can be more complicated than the primitive relationships discussed in the model.Practical implicationsFormal provenance description of metadata vocabularies can improve maintainability of metadata vocabularies over time. Conventional maintenance of metadata terms is the maintenance of documents of terms. The proposed model enables effective and automated tracking of change history of metadata vocabularies using simple formal description scheme defined based on widely-used standards.Originality/valueChanges in metadata vocabularies may cause inconsistencies in the longterm use of metadata. This paper proposes a simple and formal scheme of provenance description of metadata vocabularies. The proposed model works as the basis of automated maintenance of metadata terms and their vocabularies and is applicable to various types of changes.

Provenance Description of Metadata Vocabularies for the Long-term Maintenance of Metadata

Journal of Data and Information Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss provenance description of metadata terms and metadata vocabularies as a set of metadata terms. Provenance is...

Provenance Description of Metadata Vocabularies for the Long-term Maintenance of Metadata

Article Category: Research Paper

Published Online: Mar 21, 2017

Page range: 41 - 55

Received: Dec 04, 2016

Accepted: Feb 13, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jdis-2017-0007

Keywords
Metadata maintenance, Metadata vocabulary, Metadata term, Metadata provenance, Metadata longevity

© 2017 Chunqiu Li & Shigeo Sugimoto

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Provenance Description of Metadata Vocabularies for the Long-term Maintenance of Metadata

Article Category: Research Paper

Published Online: Mar 21, 2017

Page range: 41 - 55

Received: Dec 04, 2016

Accepted: Feb 13, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jdis-2017-0007

KeywordsMetadata maintenance, Metadata vocabulary, Metadata term, Metadata provenance, Metadata longevity

© 2017 Chunqiu Li & Shigeo Sugimoto

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Metadata maintenance, Metadata vocabulary, Metadata term, Metadata provenance, Metadata longevity