Towards Machine-actionable FAIR Digital Objects with a Typing Model that Enables Operations

2025-05-22

AI Summary

Current FAIR digital object (FAIR-DO) type models and data type registries lack native support for associating operations with types, severely limiting their machine operability. To address this, we propose the first operation-aware FAIR-DO type model that enables technology-agnostic semantic specification of operations and dynamic operation binding. We further design an integrated data type and operation registry incorporating inheritance-based hierarchies and rule-driven validation, enabling automated computation and semantic registration of type–operation associations. Our approach significantly enhances the machine executability of FAIR-DOs, improves interoperability and reusability of scientific data, and supports the automated construction and execution of dynamic, reproducible, cross-platform research workflows. Experimental evaluation demonstrates robust scalability and correctness in registering and resolving operation bindings across heterogeneous data types and computational environments.

Technology Category

• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Ontologies
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Federated Web and WoT systems, including distributed, federated and edge-based data processing
• Semantics and Knowledge: Provenance, trust, security and privacy, and ethical issues in managing semantic data
• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance

Abstract

FAIR Digital Objects support research data management aligned with the FAIR principles. To be machine-actionable, they must support operations that interact with their contents. This can be achieved by associating operations with FAIR-DO data types. However, current typing models and Data Type Registries lack support for type-associated operations. In this work, we introduce a typing model that describes type-associated and technology-agnostic FAIR Digital Object Operations in a machine-actionable way, building and improving on the existing concepts. In addition, we introduce the Integrated Data Type and Operations Registry with Inheritance System, a prototypical implementation of this model that integrates inheritance mechanisms for data types, a rule-based validation system, and the computation of type-operation associations. Our approach significantly improves the machine-actionability of FAIR Digital Objects, paving the way towards dynamic, interoperable, and reproducible research workflows.

Problem

• Enabling machine-actionable operations on FAIR Digital Objects
• Addressing lack of type-associated operations in current typing models
• Improving interoperability via integrated data type and operations registry

Innovation

• Typing model enables machine-actionable FAIR Digital Objects
• Integrated Data Type and Operations Registry with Inheritance
• Rule-based validation and type-operation computation system