The application of archival concepts to a data-intensive environment: working with scientists to understand data management and preservation needs

Abstract

The collection, organization, and long-term preservation of resources are the raison d'être of archives and archivists. The archival community, however, has largely neglected science data, assuming they were outside the bounds of their professional concerns. Scientists, on the other hand, increasingly recognize that they lack the skills and expertise needed to meet the demands being placed on them with regard to data curation and are seeking the help of ''data archivists'' and ''data curators.'' This represents a significant opportunity for archivists and archival scholars but one that can only be realized if they better understand the scientific context.

Trust in qualitative data repositories

“…Data reuse depends in part on data sharing, and in order for data to be shareable it must be both searchable and usable (Poole, 2015;Schofield et al, 2009). Data sharing and reuse are challenging even when best practices for data management are followed (Akmon, Zimmerman, Daniels & Hedstrom, 2011;Poole, 2015). Qualitative data in particular presents unique challenges, relating to the need for sufficient contextual information to facilitate the work of data reusers (Corti, 2000;Mauthner & Parry, 2009).…”

Aggregate control of scientific data

“…lib.purdue.edu/dcp/) and research articles published by archival scholars. 5,6 These studies help answer the research questions raised above. However, they mostly reveal the informal metadata generation practices of individual or small groups of scientists.…”

Full Issue PDF Volume 38, Issue 2

“…A data curator is responsible for the technical and practical aspects of data management throughout a research project-although for large, complex projects, data curation is often done by a team of individuals, which may include subject-matter experts, data users, information technology staff, computer programmers, and a metadata librarian (Lord et al 2004;Cragin et al 2008;Akmon et al 2011). A curator's major responsibilities are to incorporate, organize, document, and retrieve data that they curate (Heidorn 2008;Witt 2009;Witt et al 2009).…”

“…If data are not properly documented, no one outside of the original collectors will be able to use them properly; and because memories fade, eventually even the data originator may have trouble recalling important information relevant to a data set (Akmon et al 2011). Broadly, "documentation" (descriptive information about data sets, also called "metadata") includes the following components: what data are; when they were collected; how they were collected; geographic scope of the project; contact information of collectors; directions for citation; any information relevant to interpretation (e.g., processing that occurred, confounding factors, how missing data were handled, quality assessment, projection information, etc.…”