Metadata recommendations for light logging and dosimetry datasets

Manuel Spitschan; Grégory Hammad; Christine Blume; Christina Schmidt; Debra J Skene; Katharina Wulff; Nayantara Santhi; Johannes Zauner; Mirjam Münch

doi:10.1186/s44247-024-00113-9

Metadata recommendations for light logging and dosimetry datasets

BMC Digit Health. 2024;2(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s44247-024-00113-9. Epub 2024 Aug 28.

Authors

Manuel Spitschan^{1

2

3}, Grégory Hammad^{4

5

6}, Christine Blume^{7

8

9}, Christina Schmidt^{5

10}, Debra J Skene⁴, Katharina Wulff^{11

12}, Nayantara Santhi¹³, Johannes Zauner^{1

2}, Mirjam Münch^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Sensory & Circadian Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
² Chronobiology & Health, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
³ TUM Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS), Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany.
⁴ Chronobiology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
⁵ Sleep & Chronobiology Group, GIGA-CRC-In Vivo Imaging Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
⁶ Chair of Neurogenetics, Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁷ Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁸ Research Cluster Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), Faculty of Psychology, Speech and Language, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
¹¹ Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
¹² Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.

Abstract

Background: Light exposure significantly impacts human health, regulating our circadian clock, sleep-wake cycle and other physiological processes. With the emergence of wearable light loggers and dosimeters, research on real-world light exposure effects is growing. There is a critical need to standardize data collection and documentation across studies.

Results: This article proposes a new metadata descriptor designed to capture crucial information within personalized light exposure datasets collected with wearable light loggers and dosimeters. The descriptor, developed collaboratively by international experts, has a modular structure for future expansion and customization. It covers four key domains: study design, participant characteristics, dataset details, and device specifications. Each domain includes specific metadata fields for comprehensive documentation. The user-friendly descriptor is available in JSON format. A web interface simplifies generating compliant JSON files for broad accessibility. Version control allows for future improvements.

Conclusions: Our metadata descriptor empowers researchers to enhance the quality and value of their light dosimetry datasets by making them FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable). Ultimately, its adoption will advance our understanding of how light exposure affects human physiology and behaviour in real-world settings.

Keywords: Iprgc; Json; Light logger; Light logging; Melanopic; Melanopsin; Metadata; Metadata descriptor; Non-visual effects of light; Personal light exposure.