Mrs. Rana Raad1
1Geoscience Australia, Symonston, Australia
Biography:
Rana Raad is a Data Catalogue Officer at Geoscience Australia (GA) with a background in geology and a Master’s degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences. She began her career in exploration and mining before transitioning into data management, where she now focuses on enhancing the accessibility and usability of geoscientific data. Rana manages metadata quality and standards implementation within the Enterprise Catalogue, provides expert advice on metadata creation and maintenance, and supports the development of GA's metadata profile. She also oversees the organisation’s vocabulary register and supports data cataloguing and publishing workflows.
Abstract:
Controlled vocabularies are critical for ensuring consistent, searchable, and interoperable metadata and data across digital platforms. As part of ongoing enhancements to our vocabulary register at Geoscience Australia, we are publishing our vocabularies using an existing data catalogue process and assigning persistent identifiers (PIDs) to each concept. These PIDs now enable hyperlinks across our data portals; allowing users to access definitions of concepts directly in context. This integration supports data interpretation, improves usability, and reinforces adherence to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
We also recognised the need to review and update the vocabulary register to include high-level themes that facilitate some faceted searches, making it easier for users to find relevant concepts by science domain. Additionally, we identified the potential of enhancing the register by including visual image examples alongside concept definitions.
Substantial improvements have already been made, and ongoing development remains essential to ensure terms are clearly understood and consistently applied by researchers, data managers, and other stakeholders. By enhancing the accessibility and usability of our vocabulary register, we are promoting accurate data use and strengthening trust in the information presented throughout our systems.