Data repositories often rely upon conceptual models that provide formal representation information and identity conditions for digital resources -- for instance, the ontologies that underlie semantic data, or conceptual models like FRBR that underlie digital libraries. Though these later two cases represent extremely well documented conceptual models, there are many other instances where underlying conceptual models are tacit or inexplicit, and rarely published by practitioners and researchers. This makes it hard to build on one another's work, identify weaknesses in our models or modeling approaches, or forge new innovative collaborations. Furthermore, even in cases were conceptual models are well articulated, we believe there is a need for further discussion related to the methods used in modeling work, and the open research questions regarding conceptual modeling.
To that end, we'd like to see ESIP become a home for conversations about conceptual modeling for earth science data! We (https://sig-cm.github.io) are a group of information scientists who believe that sustaining a rich tradition of research and development in conceptual modeling in LIS requires collaboration with, and contributions from, communities like ESIP. This session would be the second in a series of interdisciplinary workshops, panels, and working sessions with the goal of building community and a research agenda around conceptual modeling work in libraries, archives, museums, and data repositories.
Plan for session:
- short lightning talks from presenters, setting the stage and outlining the topic
- a working session, in which participants are split into small groups to discuss areas of unmet need, and develop research questions, possible future research/development directions for ESIP + conceptual/data modeling efforts.
Session recording here.