Archiving Data

Archiving Data

Essential stuff to know

• Why deposit?

• Digital repositories

• ADS Guidelines

• Deposit evaluation & requirements

• Deposit checklist & template forms

• Discussion exercise

10-15 mins

5-10 mins

4.Publish &

Deposit Data

5.Preservation

& Re-Use

1.Create

2.Active Use

3.Selection &Evaluation

1. What data will the project produce?

2. How will the data be organised?

(file structure/naming, formats, software)

3. Evaluate data management.

4. What data will be deposited and where?

5. Who will be interested in re-using the

data?

Data Lifecycles & Management Plans

Wrapping-up, letting go and moving on

Why Deposit?

• Ensure Preservation

• Provide Access

– Potential to link data to related articles

– Simplify re-use of data for research and teaching

• Professional Recognition

– Increased visibility of your research

• Funding Body Requirements

Institute for Archaeologists (UK) Standards and Archives Guidance

The Standard

All archaeological projects that include the recovery or generation of data and/or archaeological materials (finds) will result in a stable, ordered, accessible archive. All archaeologists are responsible for ensuring that the archive is created and compiled to recognised standards, using consistent methods, and is not subject to unnecessary risk of damage or loss.

Codes of Conduct

The archaeologist has responsibility for making available the results of archaeological work with reasonable dispatch

www.archaeologists.net/codes/ifa

Research Data and Codes of Conduct

Differences in Digital Repositories

Archaeology Data Service• Completed Project Archives

– Individual researcher projects– Larger research projects– E-Theses and supplementary data

• Accepts sensitive personal data: – Provided consent for long-term

preservation and re-use were given.

These data provide:“valuable historiographical or contextual information of importance for understanding the context of data collection and, more broadly, for the history of Archaeology.”

Typical Institutional Digital Repository • Individual researcher’s data• Project data• E-Theses and supplementary data

• Complete or partial project archives

• Rolling deposit by individuals / projects during period of research.

• Possibly will NOT accept sensitive personal data in deposited material.

Data Types Accepted: Depends on the Repository

Archaeology Data Service• Audio & video files

• CAD files

• Databases

• Digital aerial photograph interpretations

• Excavation archives

• Geophysical data

• Survey data

• GIS files

• Images

• Spreadsheets

• Texts

• VRML files (virtual reality models)

• Any other digital formats relevant to archaeological research.

NB. Not inter-active websites

Institutional Digital Repositories • Research papers• Reports• Articles (pre- and post-prints)• Conference papers• Technical reports• Data sets• Multimedia files• Images • Learning objects• Administrative material• Archiving of simple webpages• Any other material that is relevant to

any particular subject.

Archaeology Data Service: Guidelines for Depositors

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/advice/guidelinesForDepositors

Deposit Evaluation

• Intellectual content & potential interest in their re-use– Who will be interested in the data in the future?

• Viability of data management, preservation, and distribution– Assessment of data structure and format– Nature and completeness of documentation– Technical and cost benefit issues

• Other suitable archives?– Might the data be better deposited elsewhere, with better suited expertise or re-

use potential?– Prevent duplication of archiving efforts within archaeological community

Deposit Requirements

• Authority to deposit the data– Permissions obtained in terms of Rights over the data.

– Able and willing to grant repository a licence to disseminate the data.

• Material is ‘complete’– ADS: finished project archives that will not be added to.

– DSpace: Individual digital entity is complete, i.e. not draft a version of paper.

• Digital form in preferred file format – consult repository websites

– Most common file formats accepted

– Open formats preferred

• Sufficient project documentation and file Metadata

Deposit Checklist: Documentation and Metadata

Archaeology Data Service: Guide for Depositors

• Project Documentation– Detailed overview of project as a whole: geographical

coverage, temporal dates, methodologies, monuments and evidence types, etc.

– Structure of data, file naming conventions

• File Documentation & Metadata– Operating system (platform), software and version used.– List of file names

Project Level Metadata Template Form & Example

File Metadata Template Form & Example

Archaeology Data Service: Guidelines for Depositors

Metadata template forms & examples for all file types

Project and file metadata template forms

Group Discussion

For your own project data:

• What data will / could be archived?

• What practical steps will you need to carry out?

• Have you any 3rd party copyright material in your PhD Thesis?

• Do any ethical issues arise with your research data?

Cambridge University Library

Open Access Post-Graduate Teaching Materials for Research Data Management in Archaeology

Created by Lindsay Lloyd-Smith (2011)

Module 6 Archiving Data

AcknowledgementsThis material was created by the JISC-funded DataTrain Project based at the Cambridge University Library. Project Manager: Elin Stangeland (Cambridge University Library)Project advisors: Stuart Jeffrey (Archaeology Data Service), Sian Lazar (Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University), Irene Peano (DataTrain Project Officer – Social Anthropology), Cameron Petrie (Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University), Grant Young (Cambridge University Library), and Anna Collins (DSpace@Cambridge Research Data and Digital Curation Officer).

Image credits:Slides 8, 14: Srceenshot of Guidelines for Depositors courtesy of the Archaeology Data Service.Slides 12, 13: Screenshot of Metadata Template forms courtesy of the Archaeology Data Service.

Creative Commons LicenceThe teaching materials are released under Creative Commons licence UK CC BY-NC-SA 2.0: By Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike. You are free to re-use, adapt, and build-upon the work for educational purposes. The material may not be used for commercial purposes outside of education. If the material is modified and further distributed it must be released under a similar CC licence.