Yoda glossary

Cyberduck is a free application that can be used to connect to the Yoda Network Disk, in order to transfer files to and from Yoda. Cyberduck is available for both Windows and MacOS.

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier. It is a unique and permanent identifier used to provide a persistent link to content on the internet. A DOI is automatically assigned to your Yoda data package once your data is published. As soon as your data package receives a DOI, you can use it to refer to your data package in any kind of media.

FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. The FAIR principles are guidelines designed to improve the management, sharing, and reuse of data. In this context, Yoda provides tools to manage your research data according to these guidelines. 

In Yoda, a group manager is a person that can grant or revoke access rights for a research group. Group managers can also view, download, upload, modify or delete files and directories in the group. In order to access a research group, you first need the group manager to grant you access to that group.

Coincidentally, the group manager is also a module in the Yoda web portal, which allows you to see who has access to the research groups that you are a member of. 

iBridges is a python library that enables to more easily work with data in iRODS, and therefore also Yoda. iBridges facilitates data transfer and manipulation to and from Yoda folders using python commands and/or a graphical user interface (GUI).

iCommands are a set of command-line tools used to interact with iRODS, and therefore also Yoda. They allow users to manage their data by typing commands to perform tasks like uploading, downloading, organizing, and checking files within the iRODS system. iCommands allows you to interact with the iRODS backend of Yoda directly, without using the Yoda web interface, and, in this way, significantly increases data transfer efficiency to Yoda folders.

iRODS (Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System) is an open source data management software used by research, commercial, and governmental organizations worldwide. It provides a flexible framework for managing and controlling access to data, while ensuring data integrity and security. iRODS is often used to handle large and complex datasets. Yoda is based on iRODS technology. Therefore, iRODS plays a critical role in supporting Yoda's core data management features by providing the infrastructure needed to manage large volumes of research data effectively. 

Metadata is “data about data”. It is information about your data package, and it is fundamental to make your data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Without metadata, your data package cannot be easily found, and other researchers would not be able to simply understand its contents. Providing metadata for your data package is mandatory if you want to publish your data package in Yoda. You can read more about the Yoda metadata in the guide Documenting your data in Yoda.

In Yoda, a research group is the main folder where you store and work with your files.  The name of a research group always starts with “research-”. Within this folder, you can create subfolders and manipulate your data. In order to access and work with data stored in a research group, you must have been given access to that specific group by its group manager. Importantly, everyone who has access to a research group automatically has access to all underlying subfolders. New research groups can be created by your Yoda data manager.

Yoda consists of a Research and a Vault area. In the research area, you can actively work with your data. If you share your folder (“research group”) with others via the group manager, they get access to the active data stored in the research area. The name of your active folder is preceded by 'research-' when you are in the research area. 

Yoda consists of a Research and a Vault area. The vault area is the archive. This is where a copy of your data package is stored for the long-term when you choose to archive it. When archiving, a ‘snapshot’ of your data package is placed in the vault.  When your data package is in the vault, i.e. when it is archived, it cannot be changed anymore. If you want to publish your data, you first need to archive it in the vault. Even if data in the vault cannot be changed, you can make a copy of it back to the research area in order to manipulate the copied data. You can recognize an archived folder when its name is preceded by ‘vault-’.

A WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) client is a software application that allows users to access, manage, and edit files on a remote server using the WebDAV protocol. On a practical level, a WebDAV client allows you to view and navigate through files and folders stored on Yoda from your computer and to perform some basic operations such as copy, move, delete, and rename on remote files. 

The Yoda Network Disk is a shared network disk provided by the Yoda data management system. It is one of the ways in which you can connect and work with the files stored in Yoda on your local computer. You may think about the Yoda data management system as an entire library, where all the books (data) are cataloged, managed, and organized. In this example, the Yoda network disk would be a specific set of bookshelves where you can easily access the books you need, allowing you to add, remove, or organize them without needing to interact with the full library system directly.

Yoda is a research data management service that enables you to securely store, share, document, publish and archive research data. Compared to a simple data storage system, that is primarily designed to store and retain data, Yoda focuses on the organization, curation, and governance of data throughout its lifecycle. It goes beyond storing data, ensuring that it is well-structured, easily searchable, and available for replication or reuse (FAIR).