Post on 16-Jul-2015
transcript
Beyond Metadata:
Supporting non-standardized documentation to facilitate data reuse
RDAP 2015April 23, 2015
Panel Outline
Researchers on their data documentation practices, Sara Mannheimer, @sara_mannh
Leveraging the ReadMe to support disciplinary documentation needs, Lizzy Rolando
Providing access to restricted data in our institutions, Sarah Pickle, @sarahepickle
Teaching documentation for researchers, Kristin Briney, @KristinBriney
“This is just for me”Researchers on their
data documentation practices
Sara MannheimerMontana State University Library
@sara_mannh#RDAP15
Data is Messy
http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/notebooks/22
Data by Discipline
Chemistry
Ecology/Climate Modeling
Computer Science
Microbiology
Earth Sciences/Geography
Chemistry
Training manual with data documentation protocols
Procedures document explaining experiment design and data formatting
Numbering system to reference reactions
Ecology/Climate Modeling
“I think computer scientists would probably be trained in these things, but we’re not computer
scientists—I mean, we are now!”
Computer Science
Notes, code, and project files are archived in Github.
Collected data is stored in a MySQL database, but “we don’t generate any real documentation of what's in our databases, outside of some initial
design schemas.”
Microbiology
On lab notebooks: “Effectively keeping a diary of what you’re doing every day”
“Calculations work better on paper”
For analysis and processing, Excel or discipline-specific software is used
Microbiology
“Write it so that you can figure it out, but with
the idea is that someone else should be able to figure it out too”
Microbiology
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do#Category-deposit
Earth Sciences/Geography
Former projects have had more formatting, but more recently free form
Templates document: time of interview, observations of person, property, house
Earth Sciences/Geography
“I might try to anonymize, but it can get complex to de-identify the data”
“I might make survey instrument available, but it’s not a priority”
Lessons Learned + Next Steps
Discipline-specific approaches
Discipline-specific best practices
Different perspectives on the value of reuse
Different levels of need for library data services
Lessons Learned + Next Steps
Conduct more researcher interviews
Tailor outreach to most needy disciplines
Develop discipline-specific services