Documentation

Why become a member of META-SHARE?

Types of META-SHARE members

How to become a member of META-SHARE (organisation)

How to become a member of META-SHARE (person)

LRs Sharing within the META-SHARE Network

Signing the legal documents needed for META-SHARE membership: the MoU

Metadata

The META-SHARE metadata model

Adding metadata descriptions to LRs

Updates of metadata

Licensing the metadata

Usage of metadata


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Why become a member of META-SHARE?


To share your Language Resources and to get access to Language Resources shared by others!


In the context of META-SHARE, the term Language Resources (LRs) encompasses both

·  data sets (textual, multimodal/multimedia and lexical data, grammars, language models etc.) 

and 

·  tools / technologies / services used for their processing.


META-SHARE members contribute Language Resources (in the sense defined above) to the Network. META-SHARE members  can either

  • set up and maintain their own repositories

or

  • deposit their language resources to META-SHARE repositories maintained by other Network Members who undertake to host those LRs (hosting repositories).


Members can be legal entities or individuals.

Members have the following privileges:

  • to search the inventory of LRs using multifaceted search facilities;

  • to access the actual resources for browsing and downloading them in accordance to the relevant licensing terms and conditions;

  • to get information and statistics (e.g. number of downloads) about the usage of LRs, their relation (e.g. compatibility, suitability, etc.) to other resources as well as recommendations.

Members have unlimited access to all META-SHARE services offered by the infrastructure, while non-members have access to searching, browsing and viewing only the META-SHARE inventory, the metadata and the LRs documentation, and to downloading those LRs whose license permits it. 


Types of META-SHARE Members

META-SHARE Network Nodes are META-SHARE Network Members who set up and maintain LRs repositories (META-SHARE Repositories) and act as Repository Service Providers. META-SHARE Repositories have a local or hosting role. 

Local Repositories are set up and maintained by organisations participating in the META-SHARE network, storing their own resources.

Hosting Repositories are also set up and maintained by organisations participating in the META-SHARE network, acting as storage and documentation facilities for resources wither developed by organisations not wishing to set up their own Repository, or donated or considered orphan resources, i.e. resources without an owner. A hosting Repository may also store its own resources.

META-SHARE Managing Nodes are META-SHARE Network Members that provide core services to all META-SHARE Network Members, acting as Core Service and User Support Service providers. META-SHARE Managing Nodes (listed in Appendix I of the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding):

  • harvest and store metadata records from the META-SHARE Nodes of the entire META-SHARE Network,
  • share metadata, 
  • create, host and maintain a central inventory which includes metadata-based descriptions of all language resources available in the distributed network.

Each META-SHARE Managing Node hosts a copy of the central inventory.

META-SHARE Depositors are META-SHARE Members who do not wish to set up their own LR repository; they deposit their LRs to META-SHARE Repositories maintained by other META-SHARE Network Nodes, who undertake to host and/or be responsible for those LRs (hosting repositories).


How to become a member of META-SHARE (organisation)

Organisations or individuals wishing to make their metadata catalogue available to the META-SHARE network but cannot or do not wish to follow the META-SHARE specifications with respect to LRs, or use the META-SHARE Core Services or follow the META-SHARE guidelines regarding sharing and distribution of LRs and metadata, can participate to the network as Associate Members, thus being able to use some of the Core Services, such as viewing, and make their metadata available for harvesting.

Third Parties are able to use the viewing services and easily access the LRs of the META-SHARE network according to their licensing terms.

All organisations wishing to become META-SHARE members need to endorse the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), by signing the Membership Form which is found at the end of the MoU. The MoU stipulates the basic principles, code of conduct and modi operandi of the META-SHARE members and regulates their rights and obligations for LR sharing and exchange. It follows the principles laid out in the META-SHARE Charter

By signing the Membership Form of the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) all members of any type undertake the following obligations:

  • to store the LRs and metadata in their repositories or use one of the META-SHARE hosting repositories in accordance to the META-SHARE specifications;
  • to maintain a local inventory with all the metadata records of their LRs or use for that purpose one of the META-SHARE Hosting Repositories in accordance to the META-SHARE specifications;
  • to export and allow harvesting of the metadata records of their LRs using the META-SHARE  metadata schema;
  • to communicate and enforce the terms of this MoU to their staff, members or other users they may have.


To become a member of META-SHARE, you need to Join the network.


How to become a member of META-SHARE (person)

Anyone can use META-SHARE without being a member. It is advisable, though, to register as a user, to benefit from the full set of functionalities of the tool. You can register here

Relevant FAQs


LRs Sharing within the META-SHARE Network

All META-SHARE members have full access to the META-SHARE infrastructure and to LRs licensed under META-SHARE Commons licenses for as long as they retain their membership status;they also have access to other LRs available in the repositories in accordance to the relevant licensing terms.

META-SHARE metadata are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International (CC-BY) version 4.0 or the EU Open Metadata Licence. All META-SHARE members and associate members are obliged to allow the harvesting of their meta-data.

META-SHARE members are encouraged, when they publish or distribute a Resource or any Derivative, to redeposit the Derivative work in the META-SHARE network.

LRs available under a licence allowing redistribution may be replicated and flow in the META-SHARE network according to the terms and conditions specified in the respective licence.

Relevant FAQs


Prospective META-SHARE Members need to sign the Membership Form included in the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which regulates the obligations and rights of the members of the META-SHARE network for LR sharing and exchange.

Relevant FAQs


Metadata

In the context of META-SHARE, the term metadata refers to descriptions of Language Resources, and describes data sets (textual, multimodal/multimedia and lexical data, grammars, language models etc.) as well as tools/technologies/services used for their processing

The META-SHARE metadata descriptions constitute the means by which LRs users will identify the resources they seek in the META-SHARE context. Thus, the META-SHARE metadata model forms an integral part of the search and retrieval mechanism, with a subset of its elements serving as the access points to the LRs catalogue.

The model allows for multi-faceted search and viewing of the catalogue, offering LRs consumers the chance to easily and quickly spot the resources they are looking for among a large bulk of resources.

META-SHARE promotes the use of widely acceptable standards for language resource building ensuring the maximum possible interoperability of language resources, as documented in "The Standards' Landscape Towards an Interoperability Framework".


The META-SHARE metadata model

The model covers the following resource and media types:


  • corpora (text, audio, video, multimodal/multimedia corpora incl. sensorimotor resources, n-gram resources),
  • lexical/conceptual resources (e.g. computational lexica, ontologies, machine-readable dictionaries, terminological resources, thesauri, multimodal/multimedia lexicaand dictionaries, etc.)
  • language descriptions (e.g. computational grammars)
  • technologies (tools/services) that can be used for the processing of data resources.

Detailed documentation on the metadata model is found in the META-SHARE documentation report.


Adding metadata descriptions to LRs

Metadata descriptions can be added using the META-SHARE tool.


Updates of metadata

It important to have in mind that metadata descriptions obtained via META-SHARE are updated by the LRs providers, in order to correct mistakes and include new and additional information, e.g. on new versions, new licensing schemas, etc. Therefore, it would be advisable to check the metadata through the META-SHARE tool, to make sure that you have the latest update.


Licensing the metadata

Metadata of LRs should be visible, shared, open to re-use and indexed in such a way to enable LRs effective search and discovery. Therefore, META-SHARE metadata are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International (CC-BY) licence version 4.0 or higher, or the EU Open Metadata Licence. According to the CC-BY licence terms, META-SHARE requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources. All META-SHARE members and associate members are obliged to allow the harvesting of their meta-data.


Usage of metadata

META-SHARE offers the metadata as-is and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning any metadata published by META-SHARE.

Relevant FAQs