How Developers Use DDI
Why DDI?
For developers, adopting structured, machine-actionable DDI metadata simplifies integration, enhances interoperability, and enables automation across research data systems.
How DDI Helps Developers
- Facilitates Integration: DDI's standardized metadata formats make it easier to integrate data across different repositories and discovery platforms.
- Supports Interoperability: With DDI's shared schemas and vocabularies, developers can build systems that reliably exchange metadata with other platforms using common, well-defined structures.
- Automates Data Processing: Structured, consistent metadata supports automation of tasks like transformation, validation, ingestion, and export in metadata-driven pipelines.
How to Get Started
- Explore the DDI Schemas -- Review the product schemas to understand the data model, required elements, and available extensions.
- Experiment with Tools and APIs -- Leverage DDI tools to import, integrate, and export DDI-compliant metadata within your data system or repository.
- Implement DDI in Your Systems -- Incorporate DDI-compliant metadata into your data repository, catalog, ETL pipelines, or research applications. This might involve: mapping existing metadata to DDI, creating metadata export/import functions, or validating against DDI schemas.
- Join the Developers Community and Stay Updated -- DDI is open and community-driven. Engage with other developers by joining the DDI Developers mailing list, contributing to GitHub DDI-Developers group projects, or joining DDI hackathons.