Preservation Use Case Obtsaining Data

Obtaining Data

This use case involves all of the ways users obtain data. The range of mechanisms considered range from ad-hoc methods such as consulting your colleagues at a meeting, finding out about a data set and contacting the scientist who has it to get it, to using one of the major data centers systems (or GCMD/ECHO) to find and assess and obtain relevant data sets.

Actors

the researcher who need data
data producers/scientists
data curators who may be
- graduate student who takes care of the data during a project
- data repository personnel
- IT folks assigned to manage the storage
- software systems and analysis tools
- hardware systems like FTP sites
QA people and systems
Google and other search engines
reputable scientists or colleagues
Data recommenders
Citation indices for data
advertisements such as data casts, etc.
Discovery tools

Sequence of Events

The general consensus was that no matter the route to actually obtaining the data, the steps involved are always the same:

data must be made available
data must be advertised
data must be accessible
must be a feedback mechanism

PCCS artifacts

Note: Artifacts with an * are only needed if some issue with the data is observed

the data itself
processing version
source code *
Format
Size of data
parameter descriptions
content descriptions
tools and web apps needed to read/use/transform the data
reputation of source
validation status
calibration method
processing method
algorithms used *
difference from previous versions *
data version
processing history *
history of what has happened to the data since it was created *
data inputs used *
pre-cursor products used *
instrument schematics, etc. *
instrument capabilities and characteristics
calibration/validation data *
validation method *