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Designing submission and workflow services for preserving interdisciplinary scientific data

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Abstract

Developments in information and communication technologies offer new opportunities to use and integrate scientific data that have been collected by researchers and scholars from diverse fields of inquiry. Data archives and digital repository systems are being developed to preserve current and legacy scientific data and technical information for use by others. However, capabilities are needed for data producers of various disciplines to easily and efficiently submit their data into archival systems for preservation. Analysis of digital preservation requirements has identified the requirements for services to support the submission and review of scientific data for preservation. Data submission and review processes are segmented into services, which are defined to support efficient preparation of scientific data for ingest into an archive or digital repository system. A model is proposed to inform the design of submission and workflow services for preserving interdisciplinary scientific data. Recommendations are offered for improving the design and evaluation of systems and services to prepare and preserve scientific data for new uses by interdisciplinary communities of users in the future. Improving the infrastructure that enables members of the scientific community to submit their data for archiving contributes to the scientific data stewardship and data curation capabilities needed to preserve scientific data for future generations of users.

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Acknowledgements

The authors very much appreciate the constructive comments for improving an earlier draft of the article that were offered by the referees and gratefully acknowledge support for this work that has been received from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under contracts NAS5-03117 and NNG08HZ11C. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, or NASA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA

    Robert R. Downs & Robert S. Chen

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  1. Robert R. Downs
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  2. Robert S. Chen
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Correspondence to Robert R. Downs.

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Communicated by Thomas Narock

This article is based on the presentation, “Designing Submission Services for a Trustworthy Digital Repository of Interdisciplinary Scientific Data” by the authors to the Earth and Space Science Informatics Workshop, Developing the Next Generation of Earth and Space Science Informatics: Technologies and the People That Will Implement Them, on August 3, 2009 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Downs, R.R., Chen, R.S. Designing submission and workflow services for preserving interdisciplinary scientific data. Earth Sci Inform 3, 101–110 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-010-0051-6

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