More Kinds of Metadata

[kemitchell]

The schema for PDC publication has built-in flexibility for more kinds of metadata about contributions. Right now, the software allows contributors to select:

• publications relevant in the area of their finding, from the PCT Minimum Documentation list, essentially the minimum list of resources that search authorities doing prior art searches for the European patent system have to have
• International Patent Classifications, codes in the standard taxonomy of patent applications in the European system

The best kinds of metadata will be:

• easy for contributors to select
• useful to folks searching and browsing PDC contributors, to filter down to what's likely relevant to them

The idea is to find the kinds of lists with the most leverage: minimum effort by contributors produces maximum benefit to those searching. I think the list of publications meets these criteria. I think IPCs might, if we can improve the IPC search UI, or specialize the publication form sufficiently for specific scientific areas, culling down the number of possibly relevant classifications.

A few candidates:

• A list of annual conferences and workshops. Contributors pick those relevant to their area.
• A list of grant-making institutions. Contributors pick those that have funded work in their area.

[kemitchell]

Recent additions, here or on biobricks/pdc.biobricks.org:

• subject matter keywords, based on Nature's index
• United States subject matter category (process, composition of matter...)