raffreddata

Raffreddata is a proposed metadata framework intended to improve the description and interchange of datasets across disciplines. It defines a standardized set of metadata fields to capture provenance, structure, access, and quality attributes, enabling more consistent discovery, evaluation, and reuse of data.

Origin and usage: The term raffreddata is a coined word that emerged in discussions of open data governance and data stewardship. It is described in some discourses as focusing on provenance, licensing, data quality, and retention policies, as well as facilitating automated validation.

Core components: It specifies core metadata categories such as title, creator, creation date, version, provenance (lineage), licensing, access rights, data schema, file format, validation status, quality metrics, and preservation notes. Optional extensions may cover disciplinary context and institutional affiliations.

Applications and adoption: In theory the framework supports interoperability among repositories, data portals, and publications, aiding search, authentication, and reproducibility. Implementations include digital libraries and scientific data repositories that adopt similar metadata standards.

Limitations: Critics point to increased complexity, the need for consensus on controlled vocabularies, and overhead in metadata creation. Adoption remains uneven across domains.

See also: metadata, data provenance, data stewardship.