Metadata Editing / Re-Publishing

Follow this workflow if you have already created and published mdJSON to ScienceBase and need to update the metadata and re-publish to ScienceBase.

1. Gather information

Have information about your contacts, projects, and products on hand before you begin creating metadata records. Key information to gather includes project proposals, funding agreements and amounts, project reports, product information, and contact information for individuals and organizations involved in the projects.

2. Open mdEditor

The direct link to mdEditor is https://go.mdeditor.org. Choose the browser you plan to use for mdEditor and bookmark this link.

mdEditor can also be accessed from its homepage at https://www.mdeditor.org/. This site provides some background information and Frequently Asked Questions about mdEditor.

Always hit Refresh in your browser before each work session (and periodically throughout the session) to ensure that you are using the most updated version of mdEditor.

3. Import mdEditor file(s).

Select and import the mdEditor file(s) that you wish to edit. Remember, once you have edited and published metadata from mdEditor, you must always use mdEditor to update the metadata (rather than make changes directly on ScienceBase). The Science Catalog will only update based on what is in mdJSON (and not sbJSON).

4. Check the Settings

Ensure the correct settings are in place for Importing, Metadata Repositories, and Publishing.

5. Update Contacts

Update or create new contacts using the Contacts entry form in mdEditor. After Contacts are created, they can be associated with project and product metadata records.

6. Update Projects

If you have already created an mdEditor record for the product, update and edit metadata as needed using the Projects records editing interface.

7. Update Products

If you have already created an mdEditor record for the product, update and edit metadata as needed using the Products records editing interface.

8. Create or import data dictionaries

If a product record has a need for data dictionaries, create or import one.

9. Check Associations between Projects and/or Products.

If you only updated metadata in existing record that were already associated, you do not need to do anything with the associations.

If you created a new product for your project, then associate those records in mdEditor. Associations can be either associated from a project or associated from a product.

10. Publish your records

From the mdEditor interface, publish the records to ScienceBase.

Check that your record published where expected and that the mdJSON and xml files are attached to the SB Item. Your records should publish to their existing locations. If you added a new product to a project, then it should appear as a new child item to the project.

11. Export your records

Use the Export function to export records of your products, projects, and contacts for backup, transfer, or sharing. You may want to export working backups before publishing depending on your situation, but archival exports should be done after publishing since publishing can alter records, like adding or changing a ScienceBase ID.

12. Review Science Catalog

The SA Science Catalog updates overnight so you should review newly-published records the day after you publish to ScienceBase. This will be one of your best quality control checks.

13. Consult QA/QC resources.

See the QA/QC Fixes page for suggestions about updating your data to check your metadata.