Using microdata for international e-Government data exchange: The case of social security domain

Semantic interoperability issues of international e-Government data exchanges have not been solved up until now. In the case of social security institutions, the data exchange operations have some particularities that make that the non-ambiguous definition of core concepts used in the institutions has a key impact on the success and quality of system interconnections. In this article, we present the result of a research to implement a new metadata specification based in Dublin Core elements for international social security exchanges, named Exchange Social Security Information Metadata (ESSIM). This proposal is based in a semantic approach using Linked Data for Interoperability, with technologies, such as RDF(S), SPARQL, Microdata and JSON-LD, in order to ensure interoperability between social security institutions from different countries. This will help to strengthen the protection of the social security rights of mobile workers by automating the application of international agreements on social security and to improve cross border communication between social security institutions of different countries. For the near future, the goal is to include this specification as part of information and communication technology Guidelines under development by International Social Security Association with the participation of authors of this article. This will facilitate a future adoption of the specification as an international standard.

Automated summary

This article presents a new metadata specification for international social security exchanges called Exchange Social Security Information Metadata (ESSIM), based on Dublin Core elements. The proposal aims to ensure interoperability between social security institutions from different countries, strengthening the protection of social security rights for mobile workers and improving cross-border communication between social security institutions. The goal is to include this specification in ICT Guidelines developed by the International Social Security Association to facilitate future adoption as an international standard.