View source for RIF-CS

{{Short description|XML vocabulary}}
The '''Registry Interchange Format - Collections and Services (RIF-CS)''' is an [[XML]] vocabulary for representing metadata about data collections and related entities based on [[ISO 2146]].<ref>Global Registries, [http://www.globalregistries.org/rifcs.html "The Registry Interchange Format - Collections and Services (RIF-CS)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113003315/http://globalregistries.org/rifcs.html |date=2013-01-13 }}, Retrieved on 4 January 2013.</ref>

It is a machine-readable format to describe [[Metadata|metadata]] about data collections. Similar to how [[MARC standards]] are used by library systems to describe books, RIF-CS is used to describe data collections.
For example, a RIF-CS record can describe a spreadsheet containing experimental results: it might contain the title, description, creator, keywords, date the experiment was conducted and a URL to obtain the actual spreadsheet. Another RIF-CS record can describe the person who created the spreadsheet: it might contain their name, address and contact email.

RIF-CS documents, containing RIF-CS records, are exchanged between computer systems. For example, a university can send the RIF-CS documents to a national database, where it can be indexed and searched. People can download RIF-CS records from a national database to use the information to find out more about the data and/or the researcher.

== Model ==
The metadata describes the entity as well relationships between the entities. RIF-CS represents metadata about the following types of entities, which it calls ''registry objects'':<ref>Australian National Data Service, [http://www.ands.org.au/training/rif-cs/index.html "Learn about RIF-CS"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410220004/http://www.ands.org.au/training/rif-cs/index.html |date=2013-04-10 }}, Retrieved on 4 January 2013.</ref>
* Collections
* Parties
* Activities
* Services

These entities are based on the entities defined in [[ISO 2146]].<ref>ISO, [http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=44936 "ISO 2146:2010 Information and documentation - Registry services for libraries and related organizations"].</ref>

The ''registry objects'' contain either embedded information or links to other ''registry objects''. Some information is represented directly in the ''registry object''; for example: names, descriptions and dates. Other information is represented by a link to another ''registry object'': for example, the creator for a collection (research data) is a link to another ''registry object'' that describes the party (a researcher).

== Use ==
RIF-CS is used in Australian universities and industry as a format for submitting metadata to the [[Australian National Data Service]] (ANDS) ''Research Data Australia'' service.<ref>Australian National Data Service, [http://researchdata.ands.org.au "Research Data Australia"].</ref>

In that context, collections represent collections of research data; parties represent people and groups; activities represent research projects or programs; services represent ways to access the research data collections.

RIF-CS is only a representation of the metadata. To exchange RIF-CS a protocol, such as OAI-PMH, is used.

== Example ==
This example RIF-CS document contains a collection record and a party record.

<source lang="xml">
  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <registryObjects xmlns="https://ands.org.au/standards/rif-cs/registryObjects">
   
    <registryObject group="G1">
      <key>urn:uuid:7d9127c5-b97e-4474-87a3-68f2c219c609</key>
      <originatingSource>https://www.example.com/thales/source</originatingSource>
      <collection type="dataset" dateModified="2013-03-14T15:09:26Z">
        <identifier type="local">urn:uuid:dec9b127-0d24-4d12-aaf2-a71e9ed29f75</identifier>
        <name type="primary"><namePart>Test data</namePart></name>
        <name type="alternative"><namePart>Data for testing</namePart></name>
        <description type="full">Data used for testing.</description>
        <subject type="local">test</subject>
        <location>
           <address>
             <electronic type="email">
               <value>admin@example.edu</value>
             </electronic>
           </address>
         </location>
         <location>
           <address>
             <electronic type="url">
               <value>https://www.example.edu/data/1234</value>
             </electronic>
           </address>
         </location>
         <coverage>
           <temporal>
             <date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2012</date>
             <date type="dateTo" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2013</date>
           </temporal>
         </coverage>
         <relatedInfo>
           <identifier type="uri">https://www.example.com/foobar</identifier>
         </relatedInfo>
         <relatedObject>
           <key>urn:uuid:30fda6cd-5b08-4376-a1b7-2ee40144d9da</key>
           <relation type="hasCollector"/>
         </relatedObject>
      </collection>
    </registryObject>
   
    <registryObject group="G1">
      <key>urn:uuid:30fda6cd-5b08-4376-a1b7-2ee40144d9da</key>
      <originatingSource>https://www.example.com/thales/source</originatingSource>
      <party type="person" dateModified="2013-03-14T07:14:25Z">
        <identifier type="ORCID">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9501-6966</identifier>
        <name type="primary">
          <namePart type="title">Dr</namePart>
          <namePart type="given">John</namePart>
          <namePart type="family">Citizen</namePart>
        </name>
      </party>
    </registryObject>
   
  </registryObjects>
</source>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:XML markup languages]]
[[Category:Metadata standards]]

{{Sourceattribution|RIF-CS}}