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FAIR Principles Evaluation

We evaluated the existing CSV and new JSON structures using the FAIR Principles.

FAIR Principles

  • Findability
  • Accessibility
  • Interoperability
  • Reuse

Existing Mural CSV Export

Findability

  • Data objects have UIDs (sticky note data objects).
  • Metadata to describe each data object.
    • Ex: Each “sticky note” object includes metadata of Text, Color, Size, Link to (external URL), Last updated by, and Tags. But no UIDs for metadata in the CSV.

Accessibility

  • There is also an API for access (free and enterprise versions of API) and UIDs from the CSV can be used in the API.
  • API includes an authentication protocol (SSO).
  • Data type parameters have their own unique identifiers on the API end but are not included on the CSV for elements other than sticky notes.

Interoperability

  • Language used to describe the data and metadata are consistent with the terms used within the Mural application.
    • Some terms such as "size" and "color" are standardized.
  • API tool provides multiple programming languages, but not inherent to the CSV.
  • API’s query parameters reference their linking terms in their metadata, but not inherent in the CSV.

Reuse

  • The CSV has limited qualities for resuse, but the API allows for more resuse.
  • Mural allows users to use multiple coding language options to access data using API.
  • Provenance: metadata includes items such as “‘last updated by” and references the “workspaces” and “murals” the data came from.

New JSON Structure

Findability

  • Data objects (session, Mural board, sticky notes, export info, recommendation contents) have their own distinct UIDs.
  • Important metadata for the Mural board and sticky notes that can aid the functionality of the recommendation system, and key metadata regarding recommendation content.
    • Mural: board id, URL
    • sticky note: text, topic
    • content: title, URL, topic

Accessibility

  • New structure can be accessed through the recommendation API, multiple call functions can be used to access these data.
  • The metadata can be saved to the backend of the mentoring system.
  • Authentication for appropriate user access is managed through the mentorship platform and the API will be confiugured to be available to only the appropriate users.

Interoperability

  • Data use a formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation.
    • Python, JSON, CSV

Reuse

  • The API will allow users to access sticky note information multiple times.
    • If users edit/delete/change their sticky notes, the API will still run and provide different recommendations based on their inputs.
  • Session history will be saved in the new structure.