Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
When we consider these factors we can see that it is reasonable to try to capture
information from current users which facilitate the re-use of data by future scientists.
This is possible because of the archivist's domain knowledge and close connection
to users.
By contrast the ionosonde data archivist, whilst being a skilled individual with
some domain knowledge, does not have the same strong connection with current
users. The data currently comes from 252 geographically diverse locations and cur-
rent users are simply required to provide an e-mail address to gain access. As a result
it would be completely impractical to capture user generated information even if it
might facilitate re-use.
The added value of information from end users or the impact of the absence of
such information must be considered in determining the value of the research asset
to be created. If creation of such asset is deemed viable an archive may then begin to
form preservation objectives and define user communities based on the information
in scope.
14.3 Defining a Preservation Objective
The analysis carried out up to this point may present one with a natural, easily
defined, preservation objective or alternatively there may be a greater number of
options which overlap and are more difficult to define. It is important to note that
this type of analysis cannot advise one as to which preservation option to choose but
merely clarifies the available options. Preservation objectives should be:
•
specific, well defined and clear to anyone with a basic knowledge of the domain
•
actionable - the objective should be currently achievable.
•
measurable - it is critical to be able to know when the objective has been attained
in order to assess if any preservation strategy developed is adequate.
•
realistic based on findings from the previous stages of analysis
We shall now take an example preservation objective from the MST data. We set the
preservation objective as follows.
A user from a future designated community should be able to extract a specific
set of 11 parameters from data files for a given time and altitude. These include
typical measurements such as vertical wind shear and tropopause sharpness.
We would also want the data user to be able to correctly interpret the sci-
entific parameter definitions and to be able access and read the following
materials:
•
scientific output resulting from use of the data set
•
the MST international workshop conference proceedings
•
the MST user group meeting minutes
This objective has the desired qualities of being specific, actionable, measure-
able and realistic. While it could be tempting to try and specify a replication of
