This document describes how to access data objects using the references in the metadata.
with Java Script enabled. Supported and tested are
- Firefox, version 45 or later
- Google Chrome, version 51 or later
Only the usage of the data access identifiers given in B2FIND portal are described.
We will demonstrate the ability to access data collections refered to by metadata, which are published in B2FIND. In case you use your own CKAN installation or the CKAN demo site, by default only the URL given by the CKAN field Source will be available).
When you open any dataset in the B2FIND portal at least one of the identifiers listed in the table below is available.
Facet name | Type | Persistent | Resolvable | Citable |
---|---|---|---|---|
Source | URL | No | ? | No |
PID | Persistent Identifier | Yes | Yes | No |
DOI | Digital Object Identifier | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- While the Source is linked directly to the data resource, it is not guaranteed that it really resolves to the associated digital data object.
- If a PID is given, it is assured that the link can be resolved, i.e. lead you to the data object. The resolving is done by handle servers.
- A DOI inherits these properties, but additionally it is mainly used to equip the related data object with a 'citation'. Therefore DOIs are often not directly redirected to the underlying resource, but a link to a landing page, for example a journal or a website of an institution that are responsible for the citation.
This is shown in the following figure:
Let's investigate the dataset
http://b2find.eudat.eu/dataset/2bf94196-92bf-53a9-86fd-ec828671b757
which offers both, a DOI and a PID, as identifiers:
Clicking on the link provided for the field PID leads you directly to the institutional website from where you can download the associated data objects :
In this example the DOI leads to the same 'landing page' as the PID.
Furthermore you can display the original harvested metadata by following the link in the MetaDataAccess field. This is the response to the OAI GetRecord request the XML file is originally retrieved from the data provider, in this case the DataCite repository.
Examine and analyze the following dataset samples:
http://b2find.eudat.eu/dataset/ebed26c5-0a26-52e9-8b33-0e3141c2c8eb
and answer the following questions :
- Which resource identifiers are offered?
- Are they different by value or not?
- Do they lead you to different (landing) pages?
- If it's a landing page: can you identify the data provider from this web site? Compare to the corresponding Community and Publisher
- Describe how far the underlying data object(s) can be directly accessed or not
- What is needed for fully access of the data collection? Compare this with the statements in the field Rights.
- Display the original metadata record