WHAT IS DATA?(And why you should care)

What is ‘data’?Questions to consider:• How do you define ‘data’?

• Does it matter how ‘data’ is defined?

• What is your data?

What is ‘data’?“A reinterpretable representation of information in a

formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.”

Digital Curation Centre

Any information you use in your research

Why you should care

Reason 1:Data are fragile and

easy to lose

• Storage media are fragile• Data can be easily lost:

• Fire, flood, natural disasters• Theft• Computer viruses• Mislaid

• It can be hard to find digital information without a system in place to deal with it

Data are fragile

Why you should care

Reason 2:Data are part of your

(research) legacy

• Take responsibility for your data• Make sure you delegate care of

your data to people/organisations you can trust

• Send your research into the future!• Looking after your data gives them

a life when you’ve finished using them for your own research.

Data are part of your legacy

Open Access Teaching Materials

for Digital PreservationProduced for the JISC-funded PrePARe project

(2012)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution--ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.