A GCMD/IDN "portal" is defined as a virtual subset of the complete content of the directory. Recognizing the importance of customization for partner
organizations, the staff generates subset views of the GCMD directory
through "conceptual" portals. Portals have facilitated focused views for organizations to
maintain and document their data in one place (within the directory), without duplicating the
effort to create another online directory.
Many organizations acknowledge the importance of metadata related to
their area of interest but do not have the resources to
manage the content. Portals offer a targeted science or
application-specific focus for other agencies, science focus groups,
consortia, etc.
Portals may be trademarked with the logo of an
organization, while offering the full functionality of the GCMD search
engine and tools.
Using a portal (of which content is a "virtual subset") is advantageous in that
as metadata are added to the subset, they are also freely available
from the GCMD's comprehensive search pages for scientists in other
disciplines to access and use.
Usage statistics are regularly
tracked and available to anyone. One hundred and fourteen portals are currently in use. Please see GCMD Portals .
The GCMD staff encourages organizations that wish to
create a portal or have questions to contact the User Support
Office by e-mail or through GCMD User Support.
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