4. Standards and technologies
Standards and technologies help with curating, accessing, using, sharing and maintaining data assets and they are part of our data infrastructure. Standards for data are reusable agreements that make it easier for people and organisations to publish, access, share and use better quality data. Standards for data can increase interoperability of data; the ease with which systems work together. Interoperability is key to more effective, safe and secure use and sharing of standardised data within and across organisational boundaries.
Within healthcare projects, it is important to understand where standards can help with consistency, being able to repeat processes, making comparisons, or reaching a shared understanding.
Key questions to ask here are:
When collecting or using data, what standards can help ensure consistency? For example:
units of measurement that describe how quantities are measured, eg inches, centimetres or centigrade
attributes that are properties of people, places, events or things, and give us more information about them, eg a person’s name
codes or identifiers that identify people, places, events or things, eg postal codes, passport numbers or vehicle registration numbers.
When sharing data, what standards for data exchange do you need? For example:
formats that describe how data is structured for sharing or storage, eg file and data formats like csv, json and xml
data types that describe how values related to people, places, events or things are expressed, eg a person’s name is text, their age is a whole number
data transfers that define the rules on sharing, exchanging or providing access to information, eg an API to find some data, or complete a transaction.
Are there existing standards for data that you can reuse?
Useful resources for standards and technology include:
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