ePIC Information Type Registries

ePIC provides Information Type Registries on the basis of the Cordra-software.

Information Types are a special class of additional metadata used for information about the data, which is usually necessary to know before the data is processed. The access and integrity informations, the mime types, the formats of columns (or rows) in tabular data are examples for Information Types. They are are supported by the Handle System and can be used for a wide range of higher-level services.

The Information Types are given in four different states: in preparation, candidate, approved and deprecated. First types are prepared in a special data type registry environment and are made stable by the user. If they are stable from a users perspective they are handed over to the registry of permanent types and are classified as candidates. In this state they are open for a public revision, and they are still due to possible changements as a result of this discussion. After a period of three month after the last request for change or revision they can be approved. An approved type will not be changed any more. For each revision of an approved type a new type has to be defined and needs to be approved again. This new type becomes then a newer version of the original type, which is then classified as deprecated.