Portable Infrastructure for the Metafor Metadata System

PIMMS (Portable Infrastructure for the Metafor Metadata System) provides institutions with tools to capture information about the workflow of running simulations from the design of experiments to the implementation of experiments via simulations running models. PIMMS uses the Metafor methodology for simulation documentation which consists of a common information model (CIM), a set of controlled vocabularies (CV) and software tools. PIMMS software tools provide for the creation and consumption of CIM content via a web infrastructure and portal.PIMMS will refactor the “CMIP5 questionnaire” metadata management tool, that is collecting climate model metadata for the CMIP5 model inter-comparison project, so that it can be more easily portable into stand alone installations within the university environment and customised to address the specific requirements of individual research groups. Initial model descriptions may take time to complete but once they have been cre ated the PIMMS infrastructure can be used to document subsequent variations by describing only those elements that are changed. An established PIMMS infrastructure will fit seamlessly into the research metadata workflow and significantly reduce subsequent documentation effort. The key to the customisation of PIMMS is in the modularity of its tools and the clear separation of structure (CIM) from content (CV). The PIMMS project will extend the CMIP5 controlled vocabulary to encompass descriptions of paleoclimate models and will also demonstrate how the CIM can be used to document an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM). This proof of concept prototype will create a new controlled vocabulary in collaboration with Ermitage and use it to reconfigure PIMMS to collect metadata in a different discipline. PIMMS will further explore how the CV that is used to configure PIMMS may be of further use to our stake holders and the wider JISC community through the development of the Uni versity of Cambridge chemicaltagger tool. PIMMS will provide a local portal so that research groups can view and search their own content, as well as publish their metadata content to institutional, national and international services. In addition PIMMS will also include data node software so that data documented with PIMMS can also be published to the web, both locally, and to national and international services