The ISO TC37 Data Category Registry ( ) was created in 2008 as one of the first ISO standards delivered in the form of a database (ISOcat). The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI) has provided development, hosting, and support services and acted as the Registration Authority (RA). The use of the DCR has grown over the years. Feedback from users, coupled with changes in ISO standardization procedures, necessitated a review of the current system and operational framework with an aim towards improving usability.
In line with these insights and MPI's renewed focus on institute research, the MPI will stop being the RA and hosting provider in December 2014. After reviewing potential replacement systems, ISO TC37 selected TermWeb, from Interverbum Technology, due to its support of the required data model. These new directions were discussed with the communities involved and have been taking shape since June 2013.
For users from the European CLARIN research infrastructure, the Meertens Institute will host a new registry for CLARIN relevant concepts based on the corresponding ISOcat data categories, such as those used for the Component MetaData Infrastructure ( ).
The new CLARIN Concept Registry (CCR) is less complex than ISOcat, and is a closed registry: only the national CCR-coordinators will be able to input and edit (new) concepts. All Data Category Selections (and individual DCs) the national ISOcat coordinators wanted to keep are available in the new CCR as well. Also their PIDs will remain recognizable in the CCR.
For now the entries of the ISOcat Data Category Registry are still available in a static manner, i.e., they can't be changed anymore. All Data Category Peristent IDentifiers, e.g., http://www.isocat.org/datcat/DC-4146, remain resolvable. The public part of the ISOcat registry can be browsed using the ISOcat Guest workspace.
The CLARIN Concept Registry is available as of January 2015, the updated Component Registry (using CCR instead of ISOcat) is expected in the course of February 2015.
For further information relating to the CLARIN Concept Registry, please contact Ineke Schuurman CLARIN-NL ISOcat content coordinator via ccr [at] clarin.eu (ccr[at]clarin[dot]eu).