Interested in a url field to be added to the metadata structure

[rebeccaringuette]

Problem description:
The two typical resources for more information on the mime types indicated, IANA and mime-type.com sometimes have conflicting or missing information for a given existing type (e.g., application/x-cdf/) or both do not have information in cases of new types (e.g., asdf). This is also problematic for terms that share the same mime-type (e.g., application/netcdf). A user without previous knowledge of the file type would currently have trouble determining the proper resource to learn more.

Proposed solution:
Add an optional "url" field in the xml structure for curators to put in a website link to the most up to date information on the file format type, preferably the IANA or the mime-type.com link. If neither exist, then the best website available for the file format, ideally hosted by a permanent resource (a DOI on Zenodo or a repository-maintained website). Interested in discussion on this.

Examples:
Current xml for x-cdf:

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>application/x-cdf</formatId>
<formatName>Common Data Format (CDF)</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/x-cdf"/>
<extension>cdf</extension>
</ns3:objectFormat>

Proposed xml for x-cdf with the given URL hosted by a long-term data repository. The description on IANA is incorrect for the file type, and the description on mime-type.com prioritizes information for an audio format, which users find confusing.

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>application/x-cdf</formatId>
<formatName>Common Data Format (CDF)</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/x-cdf"/>
<extension>cdf</extension>
<url>https://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/</url>
</ns3:objectFormat>

Current xml for netCDF-4:

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>netCDF-4</formatId>
<formatName>Network Common Data Format, version 4</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/netcdf"/>
<extension>nc</extension>
</ns3:objectFormat>

Proposed xml for netCDF-4 with the landing page hosted by mime-type.com, no equivalent page found in IANA. This webpage is acceptable since there is a link to a documentation page with more information.

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>netCDF-4</formatId>
<formatName>Network Common Data Format, version 4</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/netcdf"/>
<extension>nc</extension>
<url>https://mime-type.com/application/netcdf/</url>
</ns3:objectFormat>

Current xml for asdf:

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>ASDF</formatId>
<formatName>Advanced Scientific Data Format (ASDF)</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/x-asdf+yaml"/>
<extension>asdf</extension>
</ns3:objectFormat>

Proposed xml for asdf, with the best available landing page included:

<ns3:objectFormat xmlns:ns2="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v1" xmlns:ns3="http://ns.dataone.org/service/types/v2.0">
<formatId>ASDF</formatId>
<formatName>Advanced Scientific Data Format (ASDF)</formatName>
<formatType>DATA</formatType>
<mediaType name="application/x-asdf+yaml"/>
<extension>asdf</extension>
<url>https://roman-docs.stsci.edu/data-handbook/wfi-data-levels-and-products/introduction-to-asdf</url>
</ns3:objectFormat>