Save the Cows!

Cyberinfrastructure for the rest of us

Dorothea SaloDigital Repository Librarian

University of Wisconsin11 March 2009

E-ScienceE-Science

Cyberinfrastructure

Data Curation

Grid Computing

Metadata

IT? Libraries?Faculty?

Data mining

EXABYTESPetabytes

TerabytesE-Research

Standards

AAAARGH!Collaboration Identity

It’s simpler than that.

(thank goodness!)

Scholars use

in their research

This produces

DATA.

In addition to

DATA.

So now we have to support that.

Data generation

Data management

Data storage

Data certification

Data discovery and reuse

That’s all this is about. Really.

What I will not talk about today

• Collaboration technology

• Identity-management, authentication, authorization, etc.

• Grid computing

• Instrument science

• Open Notebook Science

Of course these are important. I’m just not competent to opine. Fortunately, you have Melissa!

What I’m on about

DATA.

Data?

Charts and graphs are DEAD data

Killed! Cut in pieces!

Ground up! Unrecognizable!

Not revivable! Not reusable!

Okay, what’s data, then?

We have to save the cows!

In case you’re wondering...

“Converting PDF to XML is a bit li

ke

converting hamburgers into cows.”

—Michael Kay

<http://l

ists.xml.

org/arch

ives/xm

l-dev/20

0607/

msg0050

9.html>

Do we have to keep data?

SOMETIMES.(but it’s often a good idea even if

you don’t have to)

Funders may require it.

Journals may require it.

Here’s the catch

Some of these placeshave built barns

for the cows.Many haven’t.

Guess who’s on if they don’t?

What can be done with data?

• Experimental validation

• Meta-analysis, data-mining, mashups

• Interdisciplinary investigation

• Historical investigation

• Modeling and model validation

• ... the possibilities are endless—IF we have the cows the data.

Is all data from “BIG SCIENCE”?

Absolutely not.

(they don’t even need our help)

“Small Science”

Less money

Less know-how

In aggregate? MORE COWS.

Arts & Humanities

Here’s the catch.

Nobody knowshow to do all this.

(yet)

But we do know a few things...

Cows are dumb.

They will not save themselves.

It takes a village

to save the cows.

ResearchersCan you tell a Holstein from an Angus?

Me neither.

But researchers know their cows.

Information Technologists

Librarians

But what I see happening is .

.. this b

eautiful

combination of understanding the str

ucture of

information, and understanding the code that goes

behind it, and how to make it u

sable to the people

who want to access it

. I think that w

e used to talk

about blended, or the hybrid lib

rarian — now that’s

the librarian.

“Librarian 15”

Palmer et al., “Identify

ing Factors of Success...

”

Grant administrators

Cows don’t corral themselves.Neither do researchers.

The big gray area

Informaticists?

Researchers who code?

IT pros who grok metadata?

Librarians who model data?

Great. So now what?

Find use cases

Plan for infrastructure

Build alliances

Start conversations

Ten Questions1. What is the story of your data?2. What form and format are the data in?3. What is the expected lifecycle of your data?4. How could your data be used, reused, and repurposed?5. How large is your dataset, and what is its rate of

growth?6. Who are the potential audiences for your data?7. Who owns the data?8. Does the dataset include any sensitive information?9. What publications or discoveries have resulted from the

data?10.How should the data be made accessible?

—Michael Witt and Jake Carlson, Purdue University

Keep an eye out

If this seems like common sense...

... good! It mostly is!

Thank you!

(and save a cow today!)

• Title slide: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flikr/131673772/• Server rack: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumbledad/3276756770/• Command centre: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundman1024/2054512893/

• Laptop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arbron/56216464/• Dual-monitor setup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/2372432028/

• Photo-data: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51114580@N00/1597765466/• Word cloud: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55772089@N00/3291287830/• Internet map: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/63009926/

• Dhaka image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahaqueusa/1268467179/• Plant cross-section: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonios-pics/387510805/

• Journals: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/56157732/• Books: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guwashi999/2635608241/• Manuscript: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86624586@N00/10187684/

• Hamburger: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadya/1019816514/• Row of cows: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flikr/230379411/

• Beware of cow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tm-tm/2339539399/• Cowboys: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bistrosavage/30710414/• Hands: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iandesign/1204632335/

• Money: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emraya/2867188734/• Barn: http://www.flickr.com/photos/efleming/2814015008/

• Hook: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/2077768050/• Large Hadron Collider: Fanny Schertzer, Wikimedia Commons• One Size Fits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmk/2280657662/

• Herd: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/2530875540/• Angus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/royalty-free-images/139138902/

• Digital libraries: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/3272867908/• Holstein: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/539619160/• Green tech: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2126204366/

• Permission in advance: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/2762543380/• Librarian: http://flickr.com/photos/webchicken/1352009526/

• Org chart: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2356663850/• Conversation: http://flickr.com/photos/eggybird/97707771/• Rodeo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/omaromar/49239249/

• Thumbs up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2135057566/• Cow eye: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/918567682/

Credits

Thank you!

(and save a cow today!)