Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Requirements on Long-Term Accessibility and Preservation of Research Results with Particular Regard to Their Provenance

Requirements on Long-Term Accessibility and Preservation of Research Results with Particular Regard to Their Provenance. Andreas Weber, Claudia Piesche. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 11 April 2016.
     The importance of long-term accessibility increased when the “OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding” was published. The description of the long-term accessibility of research data now has to be a part of research proposals and a precondition for the funding of projects.
The demand for long-term preservation of research data has developed slowly and are established in only few research areas.  Existing solutions for the long-term storage of specialized data are specialized and usually not designed for public use or reuse.

At universities, the support for the preservation of research data is mostly limited to the provision of high-available disk storage and appropriate backup solutions. Collaboration is limited tools to support the search of metadata are very rare. "The institutions that could play an important role, like libraries or IT centers, hesitate to build up solutions, because policies for the treatment of research results are not yet installed by the administration."   Solutions to manage research data would also need a very sophisticated rights management system to protect data from unauthorized access, yet also providing access. 

"Long-term preservation in a more classical sense means the bit stream preservation, and aims at a subsequent use of data in content as well as in technical purpose." A solution for the long-term preservation of research data should be compliant with OAIS. To access the specific research data, a unique identifier  would be needed and the storage has to satisfy the "norms of long-term preservation".

"Currently the most important standard is the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. The OAIS model specifies how digital assets can be preserved through subsequent preservation strategies. It is a high-level reference model, and therefore is not bound to specific technology. Although the model is complex, systems for the long-term storage of digital data will have to meet the requirements."


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