Dynamic Metadata Schemes in the Neutron and Photon Science Communities: A Case Study of X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces dynamic metadata schemes tailored for neutron and photon scattering experiments, exemplified through X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy, to improve data management, reproducibility, and interoperability.

Contribution

It presents a novel concept of dynamic metadata that adapts to evolving experimental needs, enhancing data sharing and analysis in neutron and photon science communities.

Findings

Dynamic metadata improves data reproducibility.

Enhances interoperability across experiments.

Facilitates tailored metadata definitions.

Abstract

Metadata is one of the most important aspects for advancing data management practices within all research communities. Definitions and schemes of metadata are inter alia of particular significance in the domain of neutron and photon scattering experiments covering a broad area of different scientific disciplines. The demand of describing continuously evolving highly nonstandardized experiments, including the resulting processed and published data, constitutes a considerable challenge for a static definition of metadata. Here, we present the concept of dynamic metadata for the neutron and photon scientific community, which enriches a static set of defined basic metadata. We explore the idea of dynamic metadata with the help of the use case of X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS), which is a synchrotron-based scattering technique that allows the investigation of nanoscale dynamic processes. It serves here as a demonstrator of how dynamic metadata can improve data acquisition, sharing, and analysis workflows. Our approach enables researchers to tailor metadata definitions dynamically and adapt them to the evolving demands of describing data and results from a diverse set of experiments. We demonstrate that dynamic metadata standards yield advantages that enhance data reproducibility, interoperability, and the dissemination of knowledge.