Necessity of Metadata

For RDMC managers and developers, metadata is the foundation for establishing, maintaining, and evolving containers. As RDMC is designed as an open-access tool, metadata plays a particularly critical role for both developers and managers. A well-defined metadata structure enables the creation of a clear and consistent manifest file, which in turn provides a concrete framework for architecting the RDMC.

Rich metadata supports several essential functions:

• Organizing container files and folders systematically.

• Specifying licenses and access rights for datasets and artifact.

• Documenting technical settings, including software versions, hardware requirements, and experimental parameters, which are critical for reproducibility.

• Ensuring long-term preservation and accessibility, by integrating with repositories and services.

A practical example is depositing artifact in Zenodo, where metadata is required to generate a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), guaranteeing secure storage and long-term usability. From a managerial perspective, metadata is not merely descriptive. It is the backbone of the RDMC that enables it to operate as sustainable, reusable, and trustworthy infrastructures. This infrastructure establishes the extraction of new knowledge and best practices under the FAIR principles of research data and software management.