2nd GO INTER Hackathon: A Short Recap

On 1-2 July 2020 the GO FAIR Implementation Network on “Cross-Domain Interoperability of Heterogeneous Research Data (GO Inter)” organised a hackathon on FAIR digital objects (FDO) and FAIRsemantics.

This hackathon has been a follow-up of the May hackathon on implementing the FDO concept to cross-domain interoperability use cases, and it took place as an online meeting with 15 participants from 9 organizations, namely:

Daniel Schiffner and Jan Schneider (DIPF, Germany),
Gerard Coen, Kathleen Gregory, Ronald Siebes, and Andrea Scharnhorst (DANS-KNAW, Netherlands),
Carlos Utrilla Guerrero (IDS, University of Maastricht, Netherlands),
Atif Latif (ZBW, Germany),
María Poveda-Villalón (University of Madrid, Spain),
Beyza Yaman (ADAPT Centre, University of Dublin, Ireland),
Yann Le Franc (e-Science Data Factory, France),
Barbara Magagna (Umweltbundesamt, Austria),
Luiz Bonino (GO FAIR, Netherlands),
Claus-Peter Klas and Peter Mutschke (GESIS, Germany).

The hackathon focused on the question of how cross-domain data searching & linking and semantic artifacts can be modeled and implemented as FDOs.

Participants split into three working groups:

One working group continued their work from the May hackathon focussing on how the entire end-to-end workflow of data linking across community borders can be fostered through the use of FDOs. The group focussed on modelling FAIR Implementation Profiles describing example data, scripts and result of a hypothetical research project on ‘COVID-19’ where data from GESIS (social science survey data), DIPF (Pisa/Assessment data), and DANS (social science data) are to be combined, in terms of the FAIR principles. The goal was to describe how the 15 FAIR principles are, respectively going to be, addressed in order to make data as well as scripts and results of a cross-domain research project like COVID-19 more FAIR.
The second group continued their work on the question of how semantic artifacts can be modeled as FDOs. Starting with a use case on measurements of lead concentration in the river Thames and semantic artefacts to represent the measurements, the group discussed the main elements needed to properly model a FDO of the use case by taking into account predicates defined so far by the FDO Framework (FDOF) which is currently under development [1]. The group started practical examples with the FDO model and identified a number of open issues and gaps which need to be addressed by the FDOF. It turned out that an agreed ontology for modeling FDOs is strongly required.
The third group aimed at developing a GuidelineFinder for FAIRsemantics to provide non-experts/data stewards with introductions and overviews on FAIRsemantics (such as ontology engineering, LOD, lookup services etc). The group identified four layers of the GuidelineFinder: the Purpose Layer (addressing examples and templates representing typical situations where guidelines are needed), the Recommendation Layer (containing annotated lists of existing recommendations), the Community/Project Layer (identifying a search space of projects and initiatives containing useful resources), and the Terminology layer (focusing on historically informed general introductions into terminology issues). The group developed a MindMap of the GuidelineFinder and started a first list of resources for each of the four layers.

The participants agreed to continue their work on the aforementioned issues by follow-up hackathons, e.g. in the framework of a session at the GO FAIR / CODATA Convergence Symposium end of November.

If you are interested in joining GO Inter, please express your interest by filling in the form below. Your request will be forwarded to the IN Coordinator Peter Mutschke (GESIS) who will get in touch as soon as possible.