MTSR 2013 : 7th Metadata and Semantics Research Conference

Aim and Scope

The sharing and re-use of research information is becoming an increasingly important aspect of scientific activity. Text publications are – and will be at least for the near future – the predominant way of publishing research output and challenges still exist for their optimal recording and dissemination. Meanwhile, scientific communities recognize the immense significance of storing, discovering, processing, preserving and re-using data sets as well as other types of research objects like workflows and software.
Furthermore, Public Sector Information, potentially valuable for research purposes, is provided openly by governments although not always in forms that enable re-use.

Metadata is a critical factor in this area, actually providing the means to promote black-box digital files to discoverable and re-usable objects. A key requirement is capturing and disseminating rich descriptions of research output in standard, semantically clear forms, including contextual and provenance information, such as relationships of publications and data sets with people, organisations, funding information, facilities and equipment. This metadata needs to be some extent independent of a particular research domain, to foster collaboration and re-use of data sets across disciplines and vertical communities, while still allowing the recording and utilization of domain-specific information. A range of open issues have to be addressed towards these goals.

The aim of this Special Track is to serve as a forum for experts to present recent results and experiences, establish liaisons with other groups and reflect on the state-of-the-art of metadata and semantic aspects of open repositories, research information systems and data infrastructures.