DataCrate: a method of packaging, distributing, displaying and archiving Research Objects

DataCrate is a specification for packaging research data for distribution and reuse. DataCrate packages may be distributed as archives with or without compression, and hosted on web sites, as they contain an index.html page that summarizes the contents of the package for human readers. For machines, there is a JSON-LD file containing metadata that will aid in the re-use of the data including licensing, publication dates, parties involved in creating the data. Where possible the terms from schema.org are used for metadata, with other ontologies used where needed. DataCrate optionally uses the BagIt data packaging standard which is widely used in libraries and archives and increasingly in research data management, including in recent discussions about data packaging at the Research Data Aliance (RDA).