Simon Musgrave NESSTAR, UK Data Archive, University of Essex

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An Infrastructure for Data Dissemination via the
Internet

• Simon Musgrave (NESSTAR, UK Data Archive,
  University of Essex)
• simon_at_nesstar.org

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Data Archive - Functions

• Acquisition
• Processing
• Metadata creation
• Data preservation
• Collection management
• Rights management

• Promotion
• Resource Discovery
• Order Management
• Delivery
• Content Support

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Workbench

• Tools
• Finding and sorting
• Browsing
• Analysing
• Publishing

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R D partners

• EC funded FASTER project (2000-2001)- follows
  NESSTAR project (1998-1999)
• Partners
• UK Data Archive
• Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD)
• Danish Data Archive (DDA)
• Statistics Netherlands (CBS)
• University of Milano (Dipartimento di Scienze
  dellInformazione)
• Central Statistical Office (CSO) Ireland
• Statistics Norway (SSB)
• Centre dInformatisation des Données
  Socio-Politiques (CIDSP), France

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Why metadata....?
Finding
Understanding
Assessing
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Metadata - the glue

• Machine understandable metadata
• providing knowledge about data to software
  processes (configuring interfaces, driving
  transformations, sub-setting, access control,
  disclosure control etc.)
• Human understandable metadata
• Finding metadata used for resource discovery
• Understanding metadata used to inform the user
  about the content and meaning of data/numbers
• Assessing metadata used to inform about the
  quality and limitations of a data source
• Sharing metadata as a conversation between
  people, offices and organisations working with a
  dataset
• Structure, semantics and syntax are the key
  building blocks of the data web e.g. DDI, XML

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Creating the Data Web

• NESSTAR is building on the DDI (Data
  Documentation Initiative Standard) that among
  other features allows us to embed hyperlinks to
  external Web objects in every metadata element
  (http//www.icpsr.umich.edu/DDI/)
• Together with the ability to describe any
  resource on a NESSTAR server as a hyperlink this
  is providing an environment for tight
  integration between data and other web resources.
• It allows us to bring live data into on-line
  texts,
• ....as well as linking external documents and
  objects to the data using the metadata as a
  bridge.
• What is still not implemented in the current
  system is a feedback technology that will allow
  the external users to link their contributions
  into the metadata.

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Software Environment
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NESSTAR features

• An architecture for a totally distributed virtual
  data library
• The ability to locate multiple data sources
  across organisational boundaries
• The ability to browse detailed information about
  these data sources
• ..and to do simple data analysis and
  visualisation over the net
• ..or to download the appropriate subset of data
  in one of a number of formats

• Create bookmarks to share resources and build up
  worksheets
• Convert data from existing sources into a web
  friendly format
• Control access to sensitive data and monitor and
  charge for usage
• Manage a distributed data server with easy to use
  administrative tools

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Two basic versions

• Light
• Basic functionality
• Search
• Browse
• Download
• Access control
• All within Web browser, server driven
• Delivered as a toolkit

• Explorer
• Basic functionality plus
• bookmarks
• history
• weights
• subsetting
• More flexibility
• Java application
• Easy integration of resources

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Searching for Data

• Search free text
• Search on specific fields
• Build complex searches
• Variables
• Question text
• Save the search
• Bookmark it
• Used by active agent
• Thesaurus

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Standards

• Searching requires an agreed set of fields
• Dublin Core at the top level
• suitable for variety of resource types
• DDI (Data Documentation Initiative)
• www.icpsr.umich.edu/DDI
• developed in SGML for archiving and interchange
• converted to XML and so opens up Web possibilities

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Browsing the data

• You find the data but then what?
• For less analytical use of statistical data, the
  system provide tools to meet basic demands and
  may be sufficient to find the number and
  associated definitions
• For more complex use the integrated tools in
  NESSTAR will provide enough explorative power to
  allow them to decide whether or not a
  data-resource meet their demands before
  downloading in an appropriate format

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Functionality

• remote statistical engine carries out merges and
  tabulations
• results matrix transferred to the client for
  display
• easy switch between graphics, tables, descriptions

• descriptives and crosstabulations
• regressions
• scatterplots
• graphics
• weights
• missing values
• tables to microdata and back again

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Bookmarks

• HTML and XML provide the facility to bring data
  and text together
• The readers have to opportunity to participate in
  the research process directly - information flow
  is 2-way
• Using, creating and sharing bookmarks

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The Finished XML driven Product

• Links the text and the data in the electronic
  journal
• Embedded graphs and tables can be live taking
  the user back to the environment in which they
  were created
• Opens the way to easy exchange of ideas
• Widens access to all types of data
• Makes statistical methodology more widely
  understood and available