HMC Conference 2026
Managing (meta-)data across interdisciplinary research collaborations often involves using a variety of software tools for storage and sharing. Maintaining data accessibility and synchronization between different sites, working groups, and institutes presents a significant challenge. We developed a solution based on the open source software LinkAhead that combines meta data from different repositories into a single research data management system (RDMS). The meta data import tool was created using the extensible crawler framework provided by LinkAhead. This enables us to import meta data from four different repositories and ELN systems used by the Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O). Where possible, APIs of repositories and ELNs can be used to directly upload meta data entries from LinkAhead (e.g., via export to DataCite XMLs). This allows
(semi-)automatic workflows, such as described in the following example:
- A researcher enters meta data in an ELN
- These are imported into LinkAhead by the crawler (possibly enriched
by data from other sources) - They can be sent directly to a repository for publication.
In addition, the RDMS is built in a way that data models and crawler definitions can also be extended and adapted to future requirements by the researchers at any time. Its basic functionality contains a graphical web-interface, as well as an API for automated queries which provides intuitive searching and querying and using meta data from all linked systems.
With Dr. Florian Spreckelsen