International Journal of Digital Curation
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Multi-scale Data Sharing in the Life Sciences: Some Lessons for Policy Makers
Get PDFDrawing on the final report on a recent series of case studies in the life sciences at the University of Edinburgh, this paper explores the attitudes and perceptions of researchers towards data sharing and contrasts these with the policies of the major research funders. Notwithstanding economic, technical and cultural inhibitors, the general ethos in the Life Sciences is one of support to the principle of data sharing. However, this position is subject to a complex range of qualifications, not least the crucial need for sharing through collaboration. The kind of generic vision for data sharing that is currently promoted by national agencies is judged to be neither productive nor effective. Only close engagement with research practitioners in the identification of bottom-up strategies that preserve the exercise of informed choice - a fundamental and persistent element of scientific research - will produce change on a national scale
Report from the Digital Curation Curriculum Symposium (DigCCurr) 2009
Get PDFThe second Digital Curation Curriculum Symposium was held on April 1-3, 2009, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with the theme "Digital Curation Practice, Promise and Prospects". The Symposium featured sessions dealing with issues from the cutting edge of digital curation research, while others showcased recent developments in digital curation tools. At the same time, the Symposium also considered how to equip the new generation of information professionals with the necessary skills to put this research and development into practice
Letter to the Editor: Authentic Digital Objects
Get PDFLong-term preservation of digital objects requires curators to be able to guarantee the archival authenticity of the objects in a digital repository. In IJDC 4(1), Ronald Jantz suggested that a digital certificate is sufficient to ensure authenticity. The letter writer takes issue with this view and points out some of the archival misinterpretations in the Jantz article. He maintains that the archival literature is a rich source for discussions of authenticity that has been ignored to the detriment of Jantz’s arguments
The Significance of Storage in the “Cost of Risk” of Digital Preservation
Get PDFAs storage costs drop, storage is becoming the lowest cost in a digital repository – and the biggest risk. We examine current modelling of costs and risks in digital preservation, concentrating on the Total Cost of Risk when using digital storage systems for preserving audiovisual material. We review the vital role of storage and show how planning for long-term preservation of data should consider the risks involved in using digital storage technology. Gaps in information necessary for accurate modelling – and planning – are presented. We call for new functionality to support recovery of files with errors, to eliminate the all-or-nothing approach of current IT systems, which in turn reduces the impact of failures of digital storage technology and mitigates against loss of digital data
ARCHER – e-Research Tools for Research Data Management
Get PDFWith new scientific instruments growing exponentially in their capability to generate research data, new infrastructure needs to be developed and deployed to allow researchers to effectively and securely manage their research data from collection, publication, and eventual dissemination to research communities. In particular, researchers need to be able to easily acquire data from instruments, store and manage potentially large quantities of data, easily process the data, share research resources and work spaces with colleagues both inside and outside of their institution, search and discover across their accessible collections, and easily publish datasets and related research artefacts. The ARCHER Project has developed production-ready generic e-Research infrastructure including: a Research Repository; Scientific Dataset Managers (both a web and desktop application); Distributed Integrated Multi-Sensor and Instrument Middleware; and a Collaborative Workspace Environment. Institutions can selectively deploy these components to greatly assist their researchers in managing their research data
Curating Architectural 3D CAD Models
Get PDFIncreasing demand to manage and preserve 3-dimensional models for a variety of physical phenomena (e.g., building and engineering designs, computer games, or scientific visualizations) is creating new challenges for digital archives. Preserving 3D models requires identifying technical formats for the models that can be maintained over time, and the available formats offer different advantages and disadvantages depending on the intended future uses of the models. Additionally, the metadata required to manage 3D models is not yet standardized, and getting intellectual proposal rights for digital models is uncharted territory. The FACADE Project at MIT is investigating these challenges in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry and has developed recommendations and systems to support digital archives in dealing with digital 3D models and related data. These results can also be generalized to other domains doing 3D modeling
Guest Editorial: Research Data: It’s What You Do With Them
Get PDFMalcolm Atkinson, Director of the e-Science Institute and e-Science Envoy, has been invited to write a guest editorial for Issue 1, Volume 4 of the International Journal of Digital Curation
Skilling Up to Do Data: Whose Role, Whose Responsibility, Whose Career?
Get PDFWhat are the roles necessary to effective data management and what kinds of expertise are needed by the researchers and data specialists who are filling those roles? These questions were posed at a workshop of data creators and curators whose delegates challenged the DCC and RIN to identify the training needs and career opportunities for the broad cohort that finds itself working in data management – sometimes by design but more often by accident. This paper revisits previous investigations into the roles and responsibilities required by a “data workforce”, presents a representative spectrum of informed opinion from the DCC Research Data Management Forum, and makes some recommendations for raising capability, capacity and status
Emulation: From Digital Artefact to Remotely Rendered Environments
Get PDFEmulation used as a long-term preservation strategy offers the potential to keep digital objects in their original condition and experience them within their original computer environment. However, having just an emulator in place is not enough. To apply emulation as a fully fledged strategy, an automated and user-friendly approach is required. This cannot be done without knowledge and contextual information of the original software. This paper combines the existing concept of a view path, which captures the contextual information of software, together with new insights into improving the concept with extra metadata. It provides regularly updated instructions for archival management to preserve and access its artefacts. The view-path model requires extensions to the metadata set of the primary object of interest and depends on additionally stored secondary objects for environment recreation like applications or operating systems. This article also addresses a strategy of rendering digital objects by running emulation processes remotely. The advantage of this strategy is that it improves user convenience while maximizing emulation capability
What to Preserve?: Significant Properties of Digital Objects
Get PDFThis article reports on the JISC/BL/DPC workshop on significant properties, which took place on April 7, 2008 at the British Library Conference Centre, London. The intention of the workshop was to bring together the relevant projects and report on progress to date. It was also hoped that the workshop will lead to collective recommendations for future areas of research and development