Part of the WebMEM Protocol
Location: /specification/sdt/yaml-in-html/classes/metafragment/
Last Updated: 2025-07-28
Overview
A MetaFragment represents high-level metadata about a dataset or data source. It provides contextual and structural information such as dataset title, description, creator, publication date, license, and versioning.
Unlike DataFragment, which describes a specific fact, or DerivedStatsFragment, which summarizes calculated values, a MetaFragment focuses entirely on the dataset itself.
It is not scoped to a real-world entity like a plan or county, but instead acts as a trust-layer anchor for other fragments that cite the dataset via provenance_ref:.
MetaFragment enables transparency, auditability, and alignment with W3C PROV principles across all SDT-powered systems.
Required Provenance Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
ID |
Canonical provenance ID; stable across dataset fragments. |
Title |
Official name of the dataset (e.g., CMS MA Landscape File, 2025). |
Description |
What the dataset includes, how it’s structured, and its purpose. |
Creator |
The entity responsible for publishing the dataset. |
Home |
URL to the human-facing homepage or documentation. |
License |
Dataset usage rights (e.g., Public Domain, CC0). |
Published |
ISO 8601 publication date. |
Retrieved |
When the data was accessed or imported. |
Digest |
Structured digest ID the dataset belongs to. |
Entity |
Unique dataset-scoped ID (e.g., dataset:cms-ma-landscape-2025). |
FragmentScope |
Declares the publishing layer (e.g., semantic-digest). |
Optional Provenance Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Scope |
Source classification: single-dataset, multi-dataset, derived. |
Archive |
Direct link to a downloadable ZIP or CSV. |
Format |
Source format (e.g., ZIP (XLSX), JSON). |
Guidelines |
URL to interpretation, compliance, or editorial policy. |
GlossaryScope |
Glossary alignment namespace (e.g., cms_landscape). |
Version |
Dataset version or tag (e.g., v2025.01). |
Year |
Release year (typically mirrors Published). |
Checksum |
Hash of the source file for integrity verification. |
Tags |
Semantic labels for filtering, surfacing, export indexing. |
RelatedTerms |
Canonical glossary terms associated with the dataset. |
Default fragment_scope
This fragment class typically uses dataset-root or semantic-digest depending on context. Use dataset-root when declaring global metadata for a dataset. Use semantic-digest if the metadata applies within a scoped memory set.