Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Add Data Package (v2) blog post (#919)
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
* Create README.md

Announcement blog of Data Package v2 release

* Update README.md

Integrated your feedback @roll. Have a look and see what you think.

* Update README.md

Integrating additional feedback from @roll.

* Update README.md

Integrating @peterdesmet feedback in the blog.
  • Loading branch information
sapetti9 authored Jun 26, 2024
1 parent 3c3d3e4 commit 64ef71e
Showing 1 changed file with 47 additions and 0 deletions.
47 changes: 47 additions & 0 deletions site/blog/2024-06-26-datapackage-v2-release/README.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
---
title: Data Package version 2.0 is out!
date: 2024-06-26
tags: ["news"]
category: news
image: /img/blog/DP-release.png
description: We are very excited to announce the release of Data Package v2
author: Sara Petti
---
We are very excited to announce the release of version 2.0 of the Data Package standard (previously known as Frictionless Specs). Thanks to the generous support of [NLnet](https://nlnet.nl/), starting [from November last year](https://frictionlessdata.io/blog/2023/11/15/frictionless-specs-update/#additional-deliverables), we were able to focus on reviewing Data Package in order to include features that were often requested throughout the years and improve extensibility for domain-specific implementations.

Data Package is a standard for data containerisation, which consists of a set of simple yet extensible specifications to describe datasets, data files and tabular data. It is a data definition language (DDL) and data API that enhances data FAIRness (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability). Since its initial release in 2007, the community has suggested many features that could improve or extend the standard for use cases that weren't initially envisioned. Those were sometimes adopted, but there wasn't a versioning or governance process in place to truly evolve the standard.

We started with [the issues that had accumulated in the GitHub repository](https://github.com/frictionlessdata/datapackage/issues) to build our Roadmap for v2. Many of the requested features are now adopted, making Data Package the answer for even more use cases.

In parallel we assembled an outstanding Data Package Working Group composed of experts from the community. We carefully selected a diverse group of people who brought different use-cases, formats, and data types that we would need the Standard to support. Together with them, we crafted [a governance model](https://datapackage.org/overview/governance/) that is explicit, in order to create an environment that adequately supports new contributions and ensures project sustainability.

We would like to thank each one of them for their remarkable contribution and for the incredibly insightful conversations we had during these months. Thank you to my colleague Evgeny Karev, Peter Desmet from the [Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)](https://www.vlaanderen.be/inbo/en-gb/homepage/), Phil Schumm from [CTDS - University of Chicago](https://ctds.uchicago.edu/), Kyle Husmann from the [PennState University](https://www.psu.edu/), Keith Hughitt from the [National Institutes of Health](https://www.nih.gov/), Jakob Voß from the [Verbundzentrale des GBV (VZG)](https://www.gbv.de/), Ethan Welty from the [World Glacier Monitoring Service](https://wgms.ch/), Paul Walsh from [Link Digital](https://linkdigital.com.au/), Pieter Huybrechts from the [Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)](https://www.vlaanderen.be/inbo/en-gb/homepage/), Martin Durant from [Anaconda, inc.](https://www.anaconda.com/), Adam Kariv from [The Public Knowledge Workshop](https://www.hasadna.org.il/), Johan Richer from [Multi](https://www.multi.coop/?locale=fr), and Stephen Diggs from the [University of California Digital Library](https://cdlib.org/).

If you are curious about the conversations we had during the Standard review, they are all captured (and recorded) in [the blog summaries of the community calls](https://frictionlessdata.io/blog/). Alternatively you can also check out the [closed issues on GitHub](https://github.com/frictionlessdata/datapackage/milestone/6?closed=1).

## So what is new in version 2?

During these months we have been working on the core specifications that compose the Standard, namely: [Data Package](https://datapackage.org/standard/data-package/) – a simple container format for describing a coherent collection of data in a single ‘package’, [Data Resource](https://datapackage.org/standard/data-resource/) to describe and package a single data resource, [Table Dialect](https://datapackage.org/standard/table-dialect/) to describe how tabular data is stored in a file, and [Table Schema](https://datapackage.org/standard/table-schema/) to declare a schema for tabular data.

During the update process we tried to be as little disruptive as possible, avoiding breaking changes when possible.

We put a lot of effort into removing ambiguity, cutting or clarifying under-defined features, and promoting some well-oiled recipes into the Standard itself. An example of a recipe (or pattern, as they were called in v1) that has been promoted to the Standard is the [Missing values per field](https://specs.frictionlessdata.io/patterns/#missing-values-per-field). We also added a versioning mechanism, support for categorical data, and changes that make it easier to extend the Standard.

If you would like to know the details about what has changed, see the [Changelog](https://datapackage.org/overview/changelog/) we published.

To increase and facilitate adoption, we published a [metadata mapper written in Python](https://github.com/frictionlessdata/dplib-py). We have also worked on Data Package integrations for the most notable open data portals out there. Many people from the community use Zenodo, so we definitely wanted to target that. They have recently migrated their infrastructure to [Invenio RDM](https://inveniordm.web.cern.ch/) and we proposed a Data Package serializer for better integration with the Standard (more info on this integration will be announced in an upcoming blog!). We also created a pull request that exposes `datapackage.json` as a metadata export target in the [Open Science Framework](https://www.cos.io/) system, and built an extension that adds a `datapackage.json` endpoint to every dataset in [CKAN](https://github.com/frictionlessdata/ckanext-datapackage).

If you want to know more about how to coordinate a standard update, we shared our main takeaways at FOSDEM 2024. The presentation was recorded, and you can watch it [here](https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3109-updating-open-data-standards/).

## And what happens now?

While the work on Data Package 2.0 is done (for now!), we will keep working on the [Data Package website and documentation](https://datapackage.org/) together with the Working Group, to make it as clear and straightforward as possible for newcomers. In parallel, we will also start integrating the version 2 changes in the [software implementations](https://datapackage.org/overview/software/)).

Would you like to contribute? We always welcome new people to the project! Go and have a look at our [Contribution page](https://frictionlessdata.io/work-with-us/contribute/) to understand the general guideline. Please get in touch with us by joining [our community chat on Slack](https://frictionlessdata.io/development/roadmap/) (also accessible via [Matrix](https://matrix.to/#/#frictionlessdata:matrix.okfn.org)), or feel free to jump in any of [the discussions on GitHub](https://github.com/frictionlessdata/datapackage/issues).

## Funding

This project was funded through [NGI0 Entrust](https://nlnet.nl/entrust), a fund established by [NLnet](https://nlnet.nl) with financial support from the European Commission's [Next Generation Internet](https://ngi.eu) program. Learn more at the [NLnet project page](https://nlnet.nl/project/FrictionlessStandards/).

[<img src="https://nlnet.nl/logo/banner.png" alt="NLnet foundation logo" width="20%" />](https://nlnet.nl)
[<img src="https://nlnet.nl/image/logos/NGI0_tag.svg" alt="NGI Zero Logo" width="20%" />](https://nlnet.nl/entrust)

0 comments on commit 64ef71e

Please sign in to comment.