munging metadata

Since the R1 library was moved into production at the end of January, the SHARE team has been hard at work on the R2 deliverables. Broadly speaking, R2 is focused around three main themes: (1) loading the remaining foundational standards, (2) publishing machine-readable standards to eSHARE, and (3) designing a solution for research concepts. On the first theme the SHARE curators are working with the SDS team to load SDTMIG 3.1.3, in addition to working on the import of SDTM IG 3.2. The curators are also working on the first controlled terminology update with the March release. On the second theme the team has implemented features to provide machine-readable standards exports, and has been testing these. The new CDISC web site will host this content for subscribers, and will be available for use this summer. Finally, on the third theme the team has been working on the requirements and a solution alternative for research concepts. A prototype of this solution will be implemente...

SHARE is no longer merely a vision, idea, or plan. After nearly 6 months of implementation work SHARE R1, our first production library, has been completed. Woot woot! This is a major milestone. We've taken the first step on a long journey towards realizing the vision of transforming the CDISC standards into an end-to-end, interoperable set of metadata all available in a machine-readable format. Both SDTM 1.2 (IG 3.1.2) and CDASH 1.1 have both been loaded into the production SHARE Library. Using SHARE R1 we will load SDTM 1.3 (IG 3.1.3) and SDTM 1.4 (IG 3.2) in the coming weeks. Although the CDISC Controlled Terminology development and governance processes will remain unchanged, we will continue to load each newly released terminology package into SHARE. BRIDG 3.2 and the ISO 20190 data types have also been loaded into the R1 library. The theme for R1 was Machine-Readable Standards. The SHARE Team plans to publish metadata from SHARE for subscribers to download by the end o...

Metadata Curator Wanted Being a metadata curator means most won’t exactly understand what you do. You can certainly forget about explaining your job to your mom.  Traditionally, curators have managed collections of old stuff, like what you might find in a museum.  In today’s world of informatics and big data, however, metadata curators play an essential role in enabling metadata driven automation and semantic interoperability. At CDISC we are implementing the SHARE metadata repository  to manage the latest standards metadata, as well as the older stuff. The SHARE metadata curators will play a critical role in defining and administrating the processes and policies for governing the metadata that will become the CDISC standards. They will help to lead the CDISC community towards new ways of standards development.  In this capacity, the metadata curator must be a passionate advocate for clinical research data standards, a strong communicator, as well as an energ...

SHARE wasn't only the theme of this year’s International Interchange, it was also a launch of sorts. CDISC has certainly talked about SHARE at past Interchanges, but this year’s dialogue had a different quality to it. This was largely driven by the fact that the wrappers were taken off the SHARE software, and attendees actually got a preview of what’s coming. We’re still talking about the vision for SHARE, maybe more than ever, but we’re also talking specific features and functions, as well as when we’ll begin using the application. During the SHARE session on Thursday the SHARE Road Map was presented, the version of SHARE currently under development was demonstrated, and we saw how SHARE and CFAST fit together.  The release of SHARE R1 is planned for the first quarter of 2014. After initiating the project in 2007, and following a longish gestation period, the implementation is on target to deliver in a period of just under 6 months. We have a long way to go to fully realize t...