The document discusses the need for improved data stewardship practices among scientists, highlighting their lack of training in data management and sharing. It proposes the development of a software add-in for Excel to assist researchers in organizing, sharing, and archiving data, particularly in environmental sciences. The proposed tool aims to enhance data documentation and metadata generation, while facilitating easier deposit of data into repositories.

1. Facilitating
data
stewardship
practices
for
scientists
Carly
Strasser
|
carly.strasser@ucop.edu
|
www.carlystrasser.net
Open
Access
symposium
|
University
of
North
Texas
|
May
2012

2. UGLY
TRUTH
Many
Earth
|
Environmental
|
Ecological
scientists…
5shortessays.blogspot.com
are
not
taught
data
management
don’t
know
what
metadata
are
can’t
name
data
centers
or
repositories
don’t
share
data
publicly
or
store
it
in
an
archive
aren’t
convinced
they
should
share
data

3. Where
data
end
up
From
Flickr
by
diylibrarian
www
blog.order2disorder.com
From
Flickr
by
csessums
Data
Metadata
From
Flickr
by
csessums
Recreated
from
Klump
et
al.
2006

4. Where
data
end
up
From
Flickr
by
diylibrarian
www
Data
www
Metadata
From
Flickr
by
torkildr
Recreated
from
Klump
et
al.
2006

5. Intercept
the
researchers
where
they
already
work:

6. Frequency
of
Excel
use
Rare
or
occasional
use
Moderate
use
Percent
of
respondents
who
use
Excel
for
these
tasks
100
Every
day
90
or
almost
80
every
day
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Organizing
Visualizing
Sta:s:cs
Sharing
data
data
data

8. Facilitate
Archiving
Data
Data
Reuse
management
Sharing
&
organization
Reproducibility
Publishing

9. • Open
source
add-­‐in
&
web
application
• Facilitate
data
management,
sharing,
archiving
for
scientists
• Focus
on
atmospheric,
ecological,
hydrological,
and
oceanographic
data
• Collect
requirements
for
add-­‐in
from
scientists,
data
centers,
libraries

10. Add-­‐in
&
Web
Application?
Add-­‐in
• Little
pieces
of
software
• Download
to
extend
the
capabilities
of
Excel
• Appear
as
“ribbon”
in
Excel
• Only
work
with
Windows
Excel
2007+
• Available
offline
but
updates
difficult
www.ablebits.com

11. Add-­‐in
&
Web
Application?
Add-­‐in
• Little
pieces
of
software
• Download
to
extend
the
capabilities
of
Excel
• Appear
as
“ribbon”
in
Excel
• Only
work
with
Windows
Excel
2007+
• Available
offline
but
updates
difficult
Web-­‐based
application
• Websites
that
do
something
with
info/files
provided
by
user
• Examples:
Facebook,
YouTube
• No
program
download
required
but
updates
easy
• New
user
interface
to
learn

12. What
will
DCXL
do?
What
do
scientists
need?

13. ~ 150
scientists
• No
data
preservation
– Unaware
of
archives
– Resistant
to
sharing
• Poor
data
documentation
• 90%
use
other
programs
along
with
Excel

14. Requirements
1. Must
work
for
Excel
users
without
the
add-­‐in
2. No
additional
software
necessary
3. Can
be
used
offline
4. Perform
CSV
compatibility
checks,
reporting,
and
automated
fixes
5. Add
Metadata
to
data
file
a. Can
use
existing
metadata
as
a
template
b. Add-­‐in
can
automatically
generate
some
of
the
metadata
where
the
info
is
available
from
the
file
6. Generate
a
citation
for
the
data
file
7. Deposit
data
and
metadata
in
a
repository

15. Requirements
Features
1. Compatibility
Check
2. Generate
metadata
3. Generate
citation
4. Post
data
to
repository

16. DCXL
Add-­‐in
Ribbon

17. Open
Access?

18. Vision
for
Future
• Community
adoption
• Extension
to
other
programs
– Google
Docs,
OpenOffice
• Incorporation
of
other
metadata
schemas
• Repository
adoption
• Partnerships:
FigShare,
F1000,
USGS,
etc.

19. Website:
dcxl.cdlib.org

20. dcxl.cdlib.org
@dcxlCDL
www.facebook.com/DCXLatCDL
www.carlystrasser.net
carlystrasser@gmail.com
@carlystrasser