claredat

Claredat is a term used to describe a declarative data specification intended to describe datasets and their metadata in a uniform, machine-readable form. The specification aims to capture data structure, provenance, quality metrics, licensing, and access conditions in a single description that can be validated and shared across systems.

Origin and etymology: the name blends "clear" and "data" and was proposed in discussions of interoperable data standards. As a conceptual construct, claredata has not been adopted as a formal standard by any major standards organization.

Core concepts: claredata describes data schemas declaratively, independent of implementation, and organizes metadata into sections for provenance, licensing, quality indicators, and permissions. It emphasizes versioning, traceability, and validity through definable constraints, enabling automated validation against a defined schema.

Usage and tools: a claredata description would typically be written in a plain-text format with sections covering the schema, metadata, and references to data instances. It would be used to populate data catalogs, automate quality checks, and facilitate data sharing across organizations and platforms.

Status and reception: as a speculative concept, claredata prompts discussion about interoperability and metadata standards but faces challenges such as lack of widespread tooling, competing formats, and alignment with existing data models like JSON-LD, RDF, or YAML-based schemas. See also data model, data provenance, metadata standard.