Managing Metadata for data.json Federated Datasets

Users have two options when it comes to managing metadata on data.json federated assets:

1. Let the federation connection sync the asset’s metadata with the source dataset’s metadata. This will ensure the metadata for the Data & Insights asset always matches the metadata provided by the source. Any metadata updates made by the source will be reflected on the domain’s version of the metadata. This only applies to fields provided from the source by the data.json federation: Title, Description, Tags, Row Label, and Attachments.

2. Replace a metadata value provided by the source by manually updating the value on the asset’s Manage Metadata page. A manual update will prevent overwrites of updates from the source dataset for the changed field.

The source-provided metadata on a data.json federated asset will default to being managed by the federation until a user manually updates the field. Metadata not provided by the source is never set or overwritten by the federation and is available for edit as on any non-federated asset. These fields include: Category, Licensing, Attribution, Attribution_link, and Contact Email, as well as any custom metadata set by the domain.

There is one exception to the above rule: Common Core metadata. When implemented, Common Core metadata will always be managed by the source and cannot be modified on the Manage Metadata page.

A user may be selective about which metadata fields provided from the source should be managed manually. For example, a user may choose to manually update the Title and Tags of a data.json federated asset while allowing the federation to keep the remaining metadata fields (Description, Row Label, and Attachments) synced with the source dataset’s values.

Reverting to source-provided metadata

If a user wishes to revert back to the source’s values on a manually managed field and re-sync via the federation connection, all they need to do is manually update the asset’s value for that field to match the source’s current value.

1. To find the source’s current metadata values go to the /api/views* page for the asset (yourdomain.com/api/views/<insert the asset’s four-by-four>).

2. Find the block titled “federatedCatalogEntry”. This block contains the list of metadata fields provided by the source dataset.

3. Locate the field you want to re-sync with the source and copy the value of that field exactly.

4. Go to the Manage Metadata page for the asset on your domain.

5. Paste the copied value into the text box for that field and save. It is important to note that the value the user enters must exactly match the source’s current value for the re-sync to occur. This includes matching the spacing and capitalization of the source value. Once saved, this field will be managed and updated by the federation.

*Note: The /api/views endpoint is read-only and is intended for no other purposes. For programmatically accessing or updating Metadata, please refer to the Metadata API.