How do we make the case for research data centres?
How do we make the case for research data centres? The RIN-JISC event at the Wellcome Collection on 17 November sought to answer this question by exploring some of the issues raised by the recent, jointly-published report, ‘Data centres: their use, value and impact’. A panel of five speakers gave short presentations, reflecting on their own perspectives and experiences as researchers, funders, policy makers and data centre managers.
One important theme of the evening was about making the hidden more visible. Matthew Woolard, of the UK Data Archive, described the many activities, including selection and validation of data, which are never seen by data centre users but which are absolutely crucial to the centre’s ability to provide a productive service. These activities need to be recognised in any assessment of a data centre’s value, even though they may be completely invisible to researchers who are asked to assess the centre’s usefulness.
At the other end of the research data re-use spectrum, two users of research data identified some other important ‘hidden’ values of data centres. Graham Stark of Virtual Worlds described the work that his company has done using ESDS data (provided by the UK Data Archive) to explore how the legal aid system could be improved. There is some evidence that the changes made following his work have saved around 10% of the legal aid budget, a sum which he estimated would fund the ESDS for five years. Similarly, Professor Matthew Collins, of the University of York, used Archaeology Data Service datasets to test a debated hypothesis about the relationship between collagen degradation and temperature in dinosaur bones. He had previously spent several years trying to test this relationship in a laboratory, with much less conclusive results. In both cases, time and money has been saved by reusing data, but the link between those savings and the data centre isn’t always traced and made obvious to funders. The usage case studies developed by the UKDA are a positive step forward in this respect, and the ESRC have responded very well to them.
The other main message that I took away from the evening was that the case for research data centres must be just one part of a wider case for research data. Kevin Ashley, of the Digital Curation Centre, posed an important question when he asked why so many disciplines don’t have data centres. Is it a lack of impetus on the part of funders? Or is it because data centres simply aren’t appropriate? Furthermore, how do data centres meet the needs of highly-specialised researchers in a particular sub-sub-discipline while, at the same time, supporting inter-disciplinary research? Mark Thorley, of the Natural Environment Research Council, talked about the need to separate the storage function from what he called the ‘intellectual component’ of data centres. He proposed a future where data might be stored in institutional repositories or even in the cloud, but where data centres provide an overlay service to pull in such data, to promote it, to provide access to it and to support researchers in creating new datasets which can, in turn, be deposited locally for the ‘data centre of excellence’ to pick up.
The lively question and answer session which followed suggested that two hours were not really enough to answer the event’s titular question. We’re looking forward to opportunities to continue the conversation.
Comments
Anonymous (not verified) said on 16 May 2012 at 12:37pm:
Nice information many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now but in general the usefulness and significance is overwhelming.
hengelsport
Anonymous (not verified) said on 16 May 2012 at 5:31am:
I am currently teaching a class and part of the curriculum involves this subject matter. Do you have any other posts I can look at regarding this?
flowers for birthday delivery
Anonymous (not verified) said on 15 May 2012 at 10:54am:
This is just the information I am finding everywhere.Me and my friend were arguing about an issue similar to this! Now I know that I was how long does it take to become a special education teacher right.Thanks for the information you post. I just subscribe your blog. This is a nice blog.
Anonymous (not verified) said on 14 May 2012 at 1:00pm:
I am definitely stunned at how amazing the items is on this web page. I have saved this site and I truly predict watching the web page later on times. Keep up the amazing work! debridement
Anonymous (not verified) said on 14 May 2012 at 11:32am:
CompTIA or the Processing 156-215.71 Technology Industry Organization has developed an unique and long-lasting E20-324 popularity in offering well acknowledged and famous certification requirements for a variety of 1z0-051
Anonymous (not verified) said on 13 May 2012 at 11:26am:
I like this Conversation Topic about a research data centres, It has a defirent types of reseach which is more knowlegable to some viewers and researchers, and have any good ideas and excellent topics,. well i recommend it,, the statement is good !!..
Anonymous (not verified) said on 13 May 2012 at 8:41am:
Anonymous (not verified) said on 13 May 2012 at 8:22am:
I appreciate publications so much since I mastered lots of points from it. It is now that I comprehend that I really could also obtain something vital on the internet. Thanks for building this fantastic web page. Google Nexus One Android Phone
Anonymous (not verified) said on 10 May 2012 at 7:57am:
This is excellent post. Its having good description regarding this topic.It is informative and teacher certification helpful.I have known many information from this. Thanks for shearing.
Anonymous (not verified) said on 10 May 2012 at 3:23am:
I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the
quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing
dried fruits wholesale
Anonymous (not verified) said on 09 May 2012 at 7:56pm:
Your post will be rather good and I’m sure some will find it interesting because it’s about a topic that’s as widely discussed as others. Some may even find it useful.Thanks so much for your post. Bridgend Web Design
Anonymous (not verified) said on 09 May 2012 at 5:41am:
You must be aware that you really have an awesome site. Does exactly what it sets out to do. Stimulating me to read much more of your special education Teacher salary post. Hope to see a lot more excellent posts from you shortly.
Anonymous (not verified) said on 08 May 2012 at 7:03pm:
Thanks for making such a killer blog. I arrive on here all the time and am floored with the fresh information here! You are great!
revisão de aposentadoria
Anonymous (not verified) said on 07 May 2012 at 8:31pm:
wow really nice informations thank you man I have bookmarked your blog it is very informative blog
thank you
commission vantage
commission vantage review
commission vantage bonus
Anonymous (not verified) said on 07 May 2012 at 10:47am:
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is more than just a fine line! it’s like the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning! psychic for free
Anonymous (not verified) said on 07 May 2012 at 3:08am:
I have enjoyed this great and fun article. This was so much fun for me to read. I really do think that this was very interesting and so much fun. Thanks for sharing. Healthy Pet Food
Anonymous (not verified) said on 05 May 2012 at 5:47pm:
Research data is always going to be very important. It is one of the few ways we can accurately draw a conclusion. hair chalking
Anonymous (not verified) said on 05 May 2012 at 8:02am:
Really, its nice information, I read this whole and carefully. This covers the all required thing. I can say that you make a real special education teacher effort, Please keep this continue
Anonymous (not verified) said on 04 May 2012 at 9:47pm:
Hey your site is really great I came across while in search for brand info on bing and it has lots of related information on it. Will be sure to come back again and bookmark. Keep up the great work! CNC Plasma kit
Anonymous (not verified) said on 03 May 2012 at 11:17pm:
I really appreciate the kind of topics you post here. Thanks for sharing information that is actually helpful. Good day! CNC Plasma kit
Anonymous (not verified) said on 03 May 2012 at 10:08am:
Yazılım Mühendisliği, kaliteli yazılım mühendislerine oluşan yoğun talep üzerine Bilgisayar
Mühendisliği çatısı altında 2008 yılında kurulan yeni bir programdır. Yazılım Mühendisliği, yazılım sistemlerinin mühendislik prensipleri çerçevesinde tasarımını, üretimini ve işletilmesini kapsayan bir bilim dalıdır. Yazılım Mühendisliği Programı öğrencileri, bu uygulamalı bilim dalında en güncel bilgiye ulaşma ve yoğun çalışmalar yürütebilme imkanına sahiptirler. Bilgisayar Mühendisliği Bölümü, bilgisayar ve yazılım mühendislikleri anabilim dallarına bağlı birçok araştırma alanı ve değişik ülkelerden gelen, tecrübeli bilim adamını bünyesinde barındırmaktadır.
Anonymous (not verified) said on 27 April 2012 at 4:22pm:
It was really inspiring I loved it, thanks a ton to bring me back and more closer to my real self and my family.
how to lose weight
Anonymous (not verified) said on 19 April 2012 at 2:45pm:
I like the conversation around this topic. The focus seems to be whether or not research data centers are necessary along with the results they may or may not be yielding.
search data is critical to any businesses or analysis. The specific factor of whether or not they are necessary depends on what is being done with the data after it’s been collected. In accounting, more specifically, during ones <a href=”http://www.cpaexam.com/cpa-review-courses.asp”>CPA review course</a>, research data that has been collected and stored within a data center is used to determine the efficacy of a learning managementment system and whether or not accountants are responding to instructional tactics.
In other sectors, business sectors sometimes these data centers go to waste because nothing is being done with the data once it has been collected. This as a practice makes the having data centers useless and a waste of funds. The focus needs to be redirected from whether or not they are a waste of time to what can be done with the data once it has been collected. I can say from personal research the these data centers are highly useful and correlate to whtether or not our particular www.cpaexam.com/cpa-review-software.asp is effective. In short, we have been using data centers for some time now to collect our information so we can use it to better educate our students.
Anonymous (not verified) said on 08 March 2012 at 7:46am:
this quite definitely! Getting excited about an execllent report. All the best . to the publisher! the best! fukima
Anonymous (not verified) said on 08 March 2012 at 7:45am:
It is a great article. This site has lots of advantage. I ran across numerous interesting items using this web site. It helps myself numerous absent. <a href=”http://translate.google.co.id/?q=rfsgt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=id&sa=N&tab=wT ”>Fukima</a>
Anonymous said on 13 January 2012 at 11:27am:
Very educative content! I read that info very meaningful to ready case for research data centre. Here you published something very informative in this issue. I enjoyed this quite accessible info. Thanks! How to download songs
Anonymous said on 07 January 2012 at 9:21am:
Grand idea! It’s so impressive tutorial though can’t make the case for research data centres. I like the idea you mentioned very crucial indeed. Thanks! webdesign
Anonymous said on 06 January 2012 at 11:30am:
Hey, I have found the impressive content crucial for the intelligence statements as so far. I actually like this update for the research data center case study issue. Thanks! dancing with stars contestants
Anonymous said on 05 January 2012 at 10:36am:
Tallented idea! You guys suggest highly impressive idea though I first hear something informative to make the case for reaserch data centres. Thanks for index awesome tutorial. GPS tracking Florida
Anonymous said on 04 January 2012 at 3:09pm:
Ha, nicely put! That’s idea really informative though I have planned so different in the case for research data centres. mendocino
You puy highly progressive theme. I just noticed the factor to make it easily. Thanks!
Anonymous said on 23 November 2011 at 4:11pm:
The wagering at an online casino will have many gamblers wanting to come back to place bets again, if you want more information there are some good articles here.Post new comment