Category: Digital Curation & Digital Preservation

Managing Research Data in Big Science

Norman Gray, Tobia Carozzi, and Graham Woan have self-archived Managing Research Data in Big Science in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

The project which led to this report was funded by JISC in 2010-2011 as part of its 'Managing Research Data' programme, to examine the way in which Big Science data is managed, and produce any recommendations which may be appropriate. . . .

This project has explored these differences using as a case-study Gravitational Wave data generated by the LSC [LIGO Scientific Collaboration], and has produced recommendations intended to be useful variously to JISC, the funding council (STFC) and the LSC community.

In Sect. 1 we define what we mean by 'big science', describe the overall data culture there, laying stress on how it necessarily or contingently differs from other disciplines.

In Sect. 2 we discuss the benefits of a formal data-preservation strategy, and the cases for open data and for well-preserved data that follow from that. . . .

In Sect. 3 we briefly discuss the LIGO data management plan, and pull together whatever information is available on the estimation of digital preservation costs.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

"A Study of Faculty Data Curation Behaviors and Attitudes at a Teaching-Centered University"

Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino, Marisa L. Ramírez, and Karen J. McGaughey have published "A Study of Faculty Data Curation Behaviors and Attitudes at a Teaching-Centered University" in the latest issue of College & Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper describes information gathered from a survey distributed to the College of Science and Mathematics faculty at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a master's-granting, teaching-centered institution. There was a more than 60 percent response rate to the survey. The survey results provided insight into the science researchers' data curation awareness, behaviors, and attitudes, as well as what needs they exhibited for services and education regarding maintenance and management of data. It is important that professional librarians understand what researchers both inside and outside their own institutions know so that they can collaborate with their university colleagues to examine data curation needs.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Research Data Management: "Improving University Research Value: A Case Study"

Kelley O'Reilly, Jeffrey Johnson, and Georgiann Sanborn have published "Improving University Research Value: A Case Study" in SAGE Open.

Here's an excerpt:

This article investigates the current data management practices of university researchers at an Intermountain West land-grant research university in the United States. Key findings suggest that researchers are primarily focused on the collection and housing of research data. However, additional research value exists within the other life cycle stages for research data—specifically in the stages of delivery and maintenance. These stages are where most new demands and requirements exist for data management plans and policies that are conditional for external grant funding; therefore, these findings expose a "gap" in current research practice. These findings should be of interest to academics and practitioners alike as findings highlight key management gaps in the life cycle of research data. This study also suggests a course of action for academic institutions to coalesce campus-wide assets to assist researchers in improving research value.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Unified Digital Format Registry (UDFR) Final Report

The UC Curation Center of the California Digital Library has released the Unified Digital Format Registry (UDFR) Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

A deep understanding of digital formats is necessary to support the long-term preservation of digital assets, as it facilitates the preservation of the information content of those assets, rather than just their bit stream representations. A format is the set of syntactic and semantic rules that govern the mapping between information and the bits that represent that information. The Unified Digital Format Registry (UDFR), http://udfr.org/, is a new open source, semantically-enabled platform for the collection, long-term management, and dissemination of the significant properties of formats of interest to the preservation community[4]. The UDFR builds upon and "unifies" the function and holdings of two existing registry solutions: PRONOM, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM, from the UK National Archives since 2002; and GDFR (Global Digital Format Registry), http://gdfr.info/, from Harvard University since 2006. While these services rely on older relational and XML database technology, the UDFR uses a semantic database in which all information is represented in RDF form and exposed as Linked Data. Use of the UDFR is open to the public, although contribution or editing of information requires prior self-service account

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

EPUB Version of Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works

Digital Scholarship has released an open access EPUB version of the Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works.

EPUB is the International Digital Publishing Forum's format standard for digital books. EPUB files can be read using free e-book reader software, such as Adobe Digital Editions and the Apple iBooks app (download e-book with Safari) as well as e-book readers, such as the Barnes & Noble Nook readers. See the EPUB Wikipedia page for more details and reader options.

Here's an excerpt from the original announcement of the book:

In a rapidly changing technological environment, the difficult task of ensuring long-term access to digital information is increasingly important. This selective bibliography presents over 650 English-language articles, books, and technical reports that are useful in understanding digital curation and preservation. It covers digital curation and preservation copyright issues, digital formats (e.g., data, media, and e-journals), metadata, models and policies, national and international efforts, projects and institutional implementations, research studies, services, strategies, and digital repository concerns.

Most sources have been published from 2000 through 2011; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 2000 are also included. The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works, such as e-prints and open access articles.

The Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works is available as a paperback (98 pages, $9.95, ISBN 1477497692 and ISBN-13: 9781477497692) and an open access PDF file. All versions of the bibliography are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

| Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications | Digital Scholarship |

The Preservation of Complex Objects. Volume 1, Visualisations and Simulations

The POCOS project has released The Preservation of Complex Objects. Volume 1, Visualisations and Simulations.

Here's an excerpt:

Let us say that there is an implication that an atomic digital object is a single file, and that this is synonymous with the notion of simplicity. But is that really the case? A single PDF file is often put forward as an exemplar of such a straightforward file, but the recent PDF 2.0 version can contain embedded 3D objects, so can it really be considered as atomic and 'simple'? So it might be a somewhat daunting task to rigidly categorize digital material past, present and future as either atomic or complex? During the symposia, the POCOS strategy was not to seek to impose definitions or standards on the proceedings, but rather to see whether any consensus emerged during the talks and breakout sessions

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Survey Report on Digitisation in European Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012

The ENUMERATE project has released Survey Report on Digitisation in European Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012.

Here's an excerpt:

The ENUMERATE Survey Report on Digitisation in Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012 represents the first major study into the current state of digitisation in Europe. It is the result of a survey carried out by the ENUMERATE Thematic Network, with the help of national coordinators, in 29 European countries. About 2000 institutions answered the open call to participate between January and March 2012.

| Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications | Digital Scholarship |

EPUB for Archival Preservation

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has released EPUB for Archival Preservation.

Here's an excerpt:

Over the last few years, the EPUB format has become increasingly popular in the consumer market. A number of publishers have indicated their wish to use EPUB for supplying their electronic publications to the KB. In response to this, the KB's Departments of Collection and Collection Care requested an initial study to investigate the suitability of the format for archival preservation. The main questions were:

  • What are the main characteristics of EPUB?
  • What functionality does EPUB provide, and is this sufficient for representing e.g. content with sophisticated layout and typography requirements?
  • How well is the EPUB supported by software tools that are used in (pre-)ingest workflows?
  • How suitable is EPUB for archival preservation? What are the main risks?

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Research Data Management: Review of DCC Tools and Guidance

The REDm-MED Project has released the Review of DCC Tools and Guidance.

Here's an excerpt:

In the course of its work, the REDm-MED Project has used various tools and guidance produced by the DCC, most notably CARDIO and DMP Online, the latter in both its checklist and software forms. The Project team found CARDIO to be promising but in need of further development before being used widely. The process of setting up a DMP Online template was relatively straightforward, but unfortunately there was no opportunity to solicit feedback from researchers on using it in the context of the tool.

| Research Data Curation Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

"Practical Limits to the Scope of Digital Preservation"

Mike Kastellec has published the "Practical Limits to the Scope of Digital Preservation" in the latest issue of Information Technology and Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper examines factors that limit the ability of institutions to digitally preserve the cultural heritage of the modern era. The author takes a wide-ranging approach to shed light on limitations to the scope of digital preservation. The author finds that technological limitations to digital preservation have been addressed but still exist, and that non-technical aspects—access, selection, law, and finances—move into the foreground as technological limitations recede. The author proposes a nested model of constraints to the scope of digital preservation and concludes that costs are digital preservation’s most pervasive limitation.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Repositories for Visual Arts Research Data: Kaptur Technical Report

The KAPTUR project has released the Kaptur Technical Report.

Here's an excerpt:

This report is framed around the research question: which technical system is most suitable for managing visual arts research data? . . . .

The Technical Manager selected 17 systems to compare with the user requirement document (Appendix B). Five of the systems had similar scores so these were short-listed. The Technical Manager created an online form into which the Project Officers entered priority scores for each of the user requirements in order to calculate a more accurate score for each of the five short-listed systems (Appendix C) and this resulted in the choice of EPrints as the software for the KAPTUR project.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works

Digital Scholarship has released the Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works.

In a rapidly changing technological environment, the difficult task of ensuring long-term access to digital information is increasingly important. This selective bibliography presents over 650 English-language articles, books, and technical reports that are useful in understanding digital curation and preservation. It covers digital curation and preservation copyright issues, digital formats (e.g., data, media, and e-journals), metadata, models and policies, national and international efforts, projects and institutional implementations, research studies, services, strategies, and digital repository concerns.

Most sources have been published from 2000 through 2011; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 2000 are also included. The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works, such as e-prints and open access articles.

The Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works is available as a paperback (98 pages, $9.95, ISBN 1477497692 and ISBN-13: 9781477497692) and an open access PDF file. All versions of the bibliography are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital/Print Books | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works cover

"Implementing DOIs for Research Data"

Natasha Simons has published "Implementing DOIs for Research Data" in the latest issue of D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Research is increasingly collaborative and global in nature, and efforts to manage the vast amounts of research data generated daily require global solutions. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system provides a means of persistent identification of research data collections and datasets that is global, standardised and widely used. The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) partnered with DataCite to offer a DOI minting service. At Griffith University, implementing DOIs raised governance questions common to other institutions that encouraged discussion and collaboration.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

DCEP Final Report; Centuries of Knowledge: Graduate School of Library and Information Science Data Curation Education Program

Melissa H. Cragin et al. have self-archived the DCEP Final Report; Centuries of Knowledge: Graduate School of Library and Information Science Data Curation Education Program in IDEALS.

Here's an excerpt:

The Centuries of Knowledge grant was designed to increase educational and research capacity in data curation at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We developed the Data Curation Education Program, a specialization within our Master of Science degree program, graduating 38 students to date. New courses developed for the specialization include Foundations of Data Curation, a survey course on the emerging field, and Digital Preservation. We developed the Summer Institute on Data Curation for practicing information professionals, facilitating the development of a community of practice across U.S. and Canadian academic and research organizations. Our outreach and service activities have led to a range of new partnerships that have resulted in student fieldwork opportunities, as well as new collaborative research and education activities resulting in 4 successful grant proposals.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Persistent Digital Archives and Library System: Final Project Report to the Library of Congress, April 19, 2012

The PeDALS project has released Persistent Digital Archives and Library System: Final Project Report to the Library of Congress, April 19, 2012 .

Here's an excerpt:

The Persistent Digital Archives and Library System (PeDALS) research project was funded by the Library of Congress' National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program as part of its Preserving State Government Information initiative. The project explored the development of a curatorial rationale to support an automated workflow to process collections of digital publications and records, specifically using Microsoft BizTalk Server middleware to manage the collections and rules-based processes for their ingest. PeDALS also examined the practicality of Stanford University's LOCKSS, or Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe, storage networks as an effective and inexpensive method of distributed preservation. In addition to those technical goals, PeDALS worked at building a community of shared practice among its partner states in the hopes that shared software development and best practices would foster a system that could be applied to a variety of repositories.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"Data Citation and Publication by NERC’s Environmental Data Centres"

Sarah Callaghan, Roy Lowry, and David Walton have published "Data Citation and Publication by NERC's Environmental Data Centres" in the latest issue of Ariadne.

Here's an excerpt:

NERC and their environmental data centres want to ensure that the archived datasets are first-class scientific objects, and that the researchers responsible for creating them receive appropriate recognition for their efforts. NERC have set up the Science Information Strategy (SIS) to provide the framework for NERC to work more closely and effectively with its scientific communities in delivering data and information management services. . . .

The NERC SIS Data Citation and Publication Project aims to create a way of promoting access to data, while simultaneously providing the data creators with full academic credit for their efforts. We are therefore developing a mechanism for the formal citation of datasets held in the NERC data centres, and are working with academic journal publishers to develop a method for the peer review and formal publication of datasets.

| Research Data Curation Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

"REDDNET and Digital Preservation in the Open Cloud: Research at Texas Tech University Libraries on Long-Term Archival Storage"

James Brewer, Tracy Popp, and Joy Perrin have published "REDDNET and Digital Preservation in the Open Cloud: Research at Texas Tech University Libraries on Long-Term Archival Storage" in the latest issue of the Journal of Digital Information.

Here's an excerpt:

In open cloud systems users can develop their own software and data management, control access, and purchase their own hardware while running securely in the cloud environment. . . . It is in this context that REDDnet (Research and Education Data Depot network) is presented as the place where the Texas Tech University (TTU) Libraries have been conducting research on long-term digital archival storage. The REDDnet network by year's end will be at 1.2 petabytes (PB) with an additional 1.4 PB for a related project. . . additionally there are over 200 TB of tape storage. These numbers exclude any disk space which TTU will be purchasing during the year. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding covering REDDnet and CMS-HI was in excess of $850,000 with $850,000 earmarked toward REDDnet. In the terminology we used above, REDDnet is an open cloud system that invited TTU Libraries to participate. This means that we run software which fits the REDDnet structure. We are beginning to complete the final design of our system, and starting to move into the first stages of construction. And we have made a decision to move forward and purchase one-half petabyte of disk storage in the initial phase. The concerns, deliberations and testing are presented here along with our initial approach.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010: "If you're looking for a reading list that will keep you busy from now until the end of time, this is your one-stop shop for all things digital preservation." — "Digital Preservation Reading List," Preservation Services at Dartmouth College weblog, February 21, 2012. | Digital Scholarship |

Report on Peer Review of Digital Repositories

The Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science Network has released the Report on Peer Review of Digital Repositories.

Here's an excerpt:

This document reports on the work which has been undertaken in support of the European Framework for Audit and Certification of Digital Repositories which was initiated by the European Commission's unit which funds APARSEN. . . .

The main part of this report provides details of the test audits which were carried out, the problems encountered and the lessons learned. The European repositories were the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB), Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), UK Data Archive (UKDA), Centre Informatique National de l'Enseignement Supérieur: Département Archivage et Diffusion (CINES-DAD) and in addition, in the USA, the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) at the Center for Earth Science Information, the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA).

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Preserving Moving Pictures and Sound

The Digital Preservation Coalition has released Preserving Moving Pictures and Sound by Richard Wright.

Here's an excerpt:

The status and technology needs of moving picture and sound materials will be examined. The scope of the report includes analogue material on physical carriers such as film, audiotape and videotape (and so stored on shelves); digital material on physical carriers such as CD, DVD, digital videotape and digital audio tape (also stored on shelves); and finally, digital content in files and so held on some form of mass storage. While the focus is on professional collections in institutions, companies or other organizations, the information will be relevant to personal holdings.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"Where Does It Go from Here? The Place of Software in Digital Repositories"

Neil Chue Hong has self-archived "Where Does It Go from Here? The Place of Software in Digital Repositories" in the Edinburgh Research Archive.

Here's an excerpt:

The open repositories community has made great strides in recent years in addressing interoperability, policy and providing the arguments for open access and sharing. One aspect of open research which has come to prominence is the importance of software as a fundamental part of reproducible research, which in turn raises issues around the preservation of software. In this short paper, I will describe some of the work that the Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) has been doing to address the structural and policy issues which currently present a barrier to the deposit and use of software in open repositories.

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Monash University’s Research Data Management Strategy and Strategic Plan 2012-2015

Monash University has released its Research Data Management Strategy and Strategic Plan 2012-2015.

Here's an excerpt:

The Research Data Management Strategy and Strategic Plan 2012-2015 outlines an extended program of activities to holistically address technology, professional development and cultural change. The strategy takes as its starting point the following statement of intent.

Monash University recognises that research data that is better managed, more discoverable and available for re-use will contribute to increased research impact, enhanced research practice (including collaboration) and improved education outcomes. The University aims to maintain its national leadership role around research data management and to fulfil compliance requirements and community expectations. All members of the Monash University community share responsibility to improve research data management in a coordinated and integrated way. This strategy supports the research, education and professional services strategies developed as part of the Monash Futures program.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

DuraSpace Gives Automatic DuraCloud Access to Internet2 Members

DuraSpace has given automatic DuraCloud access to Internet2 members.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

DuraSpace and Internet2 announced today at the Spring 2012 Internet2 Member Meeting that Internet2 members now have automatic access to DuraCloud [http://duracloud.org], a trusted service for archiving and managing content in the cloud featuring one-click creation of many copies, in multiple locations with several providers.

DuraCloud is the first Internet2 NET+ community-developed service aimed at meeting the preservation needs of Internet2 members. As the only managed software service that lets organizations archive content across more than one cloud provider, DuraCloud ensures that irreplaceable documents, imagery and videos are always accessible.

Here's a list of higher education Internet2 members.

Read more about it at "Internet2, 16 Major Technology Companies Announce Cloud Service Partnerships to Benefit the Nation's Universities."

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) Awarded Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant

The LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program has been awarded a two-year grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"LOCKSS was originally developed to preserve academic e-journals exactly as they were presented on publisher websites," according to Victoria Reich, Executive Director and co-founder of the LOCKSS Program. "At that time, most content was static, but with new technologies such as Web 2.0 and HTML 5, published content is increasingly dynamic and interactive. This makes long-term preservation much more challenging."

The Mellon Foundation grant will enable LOCKSS to develop new techniques for collecting dynamic digital content from modern publishing platforms, and ensuring its long-term preservation. Incorporating these techniques into future versions of the award winning, open-source LOCKSS digital preservation software will benefit the entire academic community.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Analysis of Results from the Research Data Preservation Survey

The London School of Economics and Political Science Digital Communication Enhancement project has released Analysis of Results from the Research Data Preservation Survey.

Here's an excerpt from "Results of Researcher Survey":

The survey showed the general lack of awareness amongst LSE [London School of Economics and Political Science] researchers of digital data preservation: this isn't a criticism, if we had found a good awareness we would probably have to stop the project! We also found that there are cultural challenges to address as well as the need for more technical training if researchers are to send their research data and materials into the future with confidence.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |