explain it why your research deserves good documentation and metadata
TRANSCRIPT
EXPLAIN ITWHY YOUR RESEARCH DESERVES
GOOD DOCUMENTATION AND METADATA
Why create documentation?
• Creating documentation can seem like a waste of time
• Good documentation will include a lot of information that might seem obvious
www.flickr.com/photos/smutjespickles/2434418686/
Make material understandable
What’s obvious now might not be in a few months, years, decades…
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5692813531/
MAKE SURE YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND IT LATER
Make material verifiable
• Detailing your methods helps people understand what you did
• Explaining your algorithms, search methods etc makes your work reproducible
• Conclusions can be verified
Image by woodleywonderworks on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4588700881/
• Material may be re-used by someone in a different discipline
• Provide context to minimise the risk of it being misunderstood or misused
Make material reusable
Documentation & Metadata
• Metadata are:– Machine readable– Written according to standards
“I guess it makes sense for a robot to read an e-book [401]” by brianjmatis on flickr
Make material findable
• Comprehensive descriptive metadata allows relevant material to be discovered more easily
• Related materials (eg other files) can be located
www.texample.net
• Who created it, when and why
• Include:• Description of the item• Methodology• Units of measurement• References to related data
What to include (I)
?
description n.A set of characteristics by which something can be recognised
M. F
arinelli et al. (2012) P
LoS O
NE
7(3): e34047
What to include (II)
CC Gavin Llewellynhttp://www.flickr.com/
photos/gavinjllewellyn/6826303487/
• Provide technical information about the file (may be generated automatically)
• Define jargon, acronyms and code
Explain it
• Create documentation to make data: – Understandable– Findable (and searchable)– Verifiable– Re-usable
• Explain:– Who created it, when and why– Methodologies and analysis techniques– Jargon, acronyms and code
Open Access Teaching Materials for Digital Preservation
Produced by Anna Collins (2012) for the JISC-funded PrePARe project
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.