Supporting Preservation of Research Data in the Chemical

Sciences.

Dr. Simon Coles School of Chemistry, University of Southampton 2nd June 2009

Representation Information for Crystallography Data

• Representation Information (RI), from the OAIS Model, is any information required to render, process, interpret, use and understand data. • Registry/repository for RI (RRoRI) by the DCC and the CASPAR Project • Crystallography domain and the workflow of the NCS are examined to identify significant RI • RI networks relating to the CIF file format are formulated and ingested into the RRoRI • Use case scenario describes how the RI stored in RRoRI may be used in order to gain access to the information content of a CIF instance by someone unfamiliar with that file format.

Preservation Planning for Crystallography Data

• Original plan was to apply a DRAMBORA assessement to each of the repositories in thefederation as a means of raising awarenessof curation and preseravtion issues.

• Now covers the notion of trust and trustworthinesswith a brief look at several preservation planningtools including: the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model; the OAIS Reference Model; audit and certification instruments (TRAC, NESTOR, DRAMBORA, Data Seal of Approval); PLATO and PLATTER (from the PLANETS Project); and cost models (PrestoSpace, LIFE2 projects).

• Raises curation and preservation issues that are likely to berelevant in the context of a crystallography community and the eCrystals federation.

Preservation Metadata for Crystallography Data

• The original aim was to augment the eBank-UK application profile with preservation metadata specifically for crystallography data

• Superceded by the development of the crystallography Data Commons initiative

• Proposed the following…

Resources

• Data Set/Collection,• Raw Data, • Derived Data, • Result Data, • Transient Data, • Workflow?

Publication/DisseminationPersistent Identifier

Preservation Policy/strategy

Rights management: binding intellectual property rights that may limit the ability to preserve and

disseminate the digital object over time e.g. use and reuse

Technical environment: describing the technical requirements needed to render and use the digital object e.g. File format, software, instrumentation

Provenance: the custodial history of the object

Context: contextual information indicating how the object was created and under what circumstances

Authenticity: validating that the digital object is in fact what purports to be, and has not been altered in an undocumented way e.g. checksum

Management

• Embargo e.g. policy

• Representation Information: any information required to render, process, use, reuse, interpret and understand the object e.g. Specifications; File formats; Software; Hardware; Semantics

• Preservation activity: actions taken to preserve the digital object, and any consequences of these actions that impact its look, feel, or functionality