blue

1
Scientific Data Curation in Government
Agencies Teaching Agency Data Creators How to
Develop an OAIS-Compliant Digital Curation System
Lorraine L. Richards, William C. Regli, Adam
Townes, YuanYuan Feng Drexel University, College
of Computing and Informatics
Introduction For many U.S. federal agencies,
scientific data management activities support the
immediate research needs of the agency
scientists, but neither support the recently
mandated large-scale data sharing and data reuse
requirements 3,4,5, nor the long-term
preservation of the data. As a result, agencies
are scrambling to learn how to curate their
scientific data sets without sacrificing current
mission-oriented research activities. This poster
examines a case study of the Federal Aviation
Administrations William J. Hughes Technical
Center (WJHTC), which contracted with the Drexel
University project team to develop requirements
and build capacity for a digital curation and
preservation system that will meet OAIS
Reference Model recommendations for such a
system. Specifically, this poster presents
findings related to teaching non-Archives and
Records Management personnel how to develop a
big data digital curation and preservation
system.
Some Findings

• Recommendation of a design for the ingest and
  tagging mechanisms to auto-generate metadata
  tags
• Research into potential standards for the
  policies and rules for data sets and access
  controls and
• Analysis of scientific research workflows and
  task analysis.

Constantly focus on current use to sustain the project and maintain interest. (See 1).
The value add must continually be evaluated and applied to the organizations/departments/individuals key objectives, linking curation and preservation goals to the ongoing data use priorities.
Tie the current curation project directly to other key, strategic projects within the organization, e.g., UAS (unmanned air space, or drone), project, NextGen (Next Generation) project, or SWIM (System-Wide Information Management). This can require continually reformulating progress reports and education throughout the project, as the organizations priorities change.
To communicate effectively, the teacher must be willing to be the student. Building trust requires reciprocity.
Education is not so much iterative as holographic. One iterates through the entire process over and over, providing more detail to the overall story board. Continued focus on the value-add of curation Continued focus on what steps must be followed Continued focus on the big picture final solution/service and how individual project steps fit into the big picture.
Examining, documenting, and validating detailed workflows provides a common language with which to speak. Ideas need to be presented in concrete form, using examples specific to the domain background of the receiving party. Academic or preservation-oriented abstractions are not welcome.
Existing information ontologies and taxonomies can be used to gain persuasive power and speed up the metadata development.
Use organizational-specific or IT-oriented language, rather than preservation terms, which often lead to confusion and lessen impact. Although the DPCCM was used and initially presented to FAA personnel, we found that they responded more positively and with greater acceptance when these findings were translated into the language of NASAs Technology Readiness Levels, with which they are already familiar.
Educational Goals The development of the
organizational knowledge and capabilities needed
to issue a request for proposal or additional
statement of work for a contractor to implement,
build, and maintain a digital curation repository
that is compliant with the recommendations of the
OAIS Reference Model for the WJHTC and its
current and future users.
Methods To support both the implementation and
educational goals, the project team chose to
engage in action research. It stressed mutual
cooperation between the WJHTC scientists and the
Drexel curation and cyberinfrastructure experts.
Action Research an emergent inquiry process in
which applied behavioural science knowledge is
integrated with existing organizational knowledge
and applied to solve real organizational
problems. It is simultaneously concerned with
bringing about change in organizations, in
developing self-help competencies in
organizational members and adding to scientific
knowledge. Finally, it is an evolving process
that is undertaken in a spirit of collaboration
and co-inquiry 6, 439.

• Problem Statement
• The WJHTC is an organization that uses big data
  information resources in the course of
  large-scale scientific research. While the WJHTC
  has not previously been engaged in data curation
  as a routine activity, it now requires a
  trustworthy repository for its scientific
  research data, in order to meet government
  mandates and to engage in data sharing for future
  mission-critical projects.
• Research and Development Activities
• The Drexel University project team is performing
  activities such as
• Completion of a data inventory
• Development of a domain ontology and metadata
  taxonomy

References 1 Higgins, J. Stephens et al. 2012.
Human Factors Evaluation of Pointing Devices Used
by Air Traffic Controllers Changes in Physical
Workload and Behavior. Atlantic City, NJ
Department of Transportation. Available at
http//hf.tc.faa.gov/technotes/dot-faa-tc-12-63.pd
f 2 Shani, A.B. and Pasmore, W.A. 2010.
Organization Inquiry Towards a Model of the
Action Research Process, in D. Coghlan and A.B.
Shani (eds.) Fundamentals of Organization
Development, Vol 1. London SAGE, pp.
249-260. 3 Blue Ribbon Task Force on the
Sustainability of Digital Preservation and
Access. 2010. Sustainable Economics for a Digital
Planet Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital
Information. San Diego SDSC. http//brtf.sdsc.edu
/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf. 4 Office of
Management and Budget. 2013. Open Data Policy
Managing Information as an Asset. Washington,
D.C. Executive Office of the President.
http//www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/
memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf. 5 Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP). 2013a. Increasing
Access to the Results of Federally Funded
Scientific Research. Washington, D.C. Executive
Office of the President.
References, continued http//www.whitehouse.gov/si
tes/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_acce
ss_memo_2013.pdf 6 Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP). 2013b. Science and
Technology Priorities for the FY 2015 Budget.
Washington, D.C. Executive Office of the
President. Available at http//www.whitehouse.gov/
sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-16.pdf
.