Text, data and people: how to represent earth system science

We will discuss the application of the open access paradigm as well as Open Archives protocols and common metadata schemes, as they are applicable to datasets as well as people and groups. One outcome of this discussion will be a critical evaluation whether complex metadata schemes – as the 1000 attribute ISO 19115 – are useful for open, loosely coordinated harvesting schemes or if these should be applied in closed information systems only. Regarding people and organizations, we strongly recommend using the eduPerson object classes and attributes from the Internet2 / Grid middleware standards. Finally, we will demonstrate a working OAI-PMH service provider which harvests information about (text-) publications, datasets and researchers, which are described in a way as outlined above.