FAQs

• 1 Technical Instructions: How to install your biositemaps file on your server

We are asking that you publish information about software and data resources that you develop or find useful on the Internet using a Biositemaps (http://www.biositemaps.org) RDF file [1].  Your institution will name a curator who will update the biositemaps file on a regular basis, publish it on the Internet, and engage in discussion with Biositemaps staff on best practices for the content of the biositemaps file.  The biositemaps file should be published with the help of the local IT administrator.  Ideally, the biositemaps file should be placed on the root directory of your web site.  In some cases the IT administrator may require that you get permissions through your institution’s leadership, and your PI or Peter Lyster can help with that.  As a fall back, Peter Lyster can publish the biositemaps file on the ncbcs.org site, but we are hoping that option is a rarity.  The following instructions should help guide the IT administrator:

1. It is best if the biositemaps file is publicly accessible on the root directory of your web site.  Any web server technology (IIS, Apache, etc) is acceptable.  The only requirement is that the web server technology accepts an HTTP request (i.e., not ftp or HTTPS).  Please use whatever web server technology is typically deployed at your institution.

2. Please provide the biositemaps curator with the URL that will host the RDF file.  For example: http://www.myinsitution.edu/Biositemap_NCBC_[Institution name].rdf.  The curator will provide you with the file.

3. Ensure that your web server is properly configured to serve RDF files.  Typically, a web server requires you to register the MIME type definition for the .rdf extension.  The following website provides an explanation of the MIME type associated with RDF files: http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/rdf-mediatype.html#anchor3.

4. Provide the biositemaps curator with the permissions necessary to create, update, and delete the RDF file hosted on your web server.  The curator will update the file periodically.

5. Provide assistance to the biositemaps curator in the event that the web server hosting the RDF file is inaccessible.  Access to the RDF file is not “mission critical”, but we would appreciate your efforts in minimizing the downtime.  We also expect the servers to be inaccessible as part of normal day-to-day operations (during backups, upgrades, etc).  

For any further questions, please contact Peter Lyster 703.819.6093.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/