[README] Add odML introduction

README.md

@@ -1,13 +1,43 @@
-odml - The open metadata markup language - 
+# odML - The open metadata markup language - 
 
+This repository collects and maintains odML terminologies. 
+odML Terminologies define terms that can be used for annotating Neuroscientific data 
+in general and electrophysiological data in particular.
 
-This folder contains odml terminologies. 
-odml Terminologies define terms that can be used for annotating electrophysiological data.
+More information on odml can be found at the [main odML page](http://www.g-node.org/odml).
 
+Tools and libraries for metadata handling with odml can be found on Github at 
+[https://github.com/G-Node](https://github.com/G-Node)
 
 
-More information on odml can be found on
-www.g-node.org/odml
+## A brief introduction to odML and metadata
 
-Tools and libraries for metadata handling with odml can be found on Github:
-https://github.com/G-Node/
+odML (open metadata Markup Language) is a framework, proposed by 
+[Grewe et al. (2011)](http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fninf.2011.00016/full),
+to organize and store experimental metadata in a human- and machine-readable,
+XML based format (odml). In this tutorial we will illustrate the conceptual
+design of the odML framework and show hands-on how you can generate your own
+odML metadata file collection. A well organized metadata management of your
+experiment is a key component to guarantee the reproducibility of your research
+and facilitate the provenance tracking of your analysis projects.
+
+### What are metadata and why are they needed?
+Metadata are data about data. They describe the conditions under which the
+actual raw-data of an experimental study were acquired. The organization of
+such metadata and their accessibility may sound like a trivial task, and
+most laboratories developed their home-made solutions to keep track of
+their metadata. Most of these solutions, however, break down if data and
+metadata need to be shared within a collaboration, because implicit
+knowledge of what is important and how it is organized is often
+underestimated.
+
+While maintaining the relation to the actual raw-data, odML can help to
+collect all metadata which are usually distributed over several files and
+formats, and to store them unitedly which facilitates sharing data and
+metadata.
+
+### Key features of odML
+- open, XML based language, to collect, store and share metadata
+- Machine- and human-readable
+- Python-odML library
+- Interactive odML-Editor