Data Curation and Quality Assurance in NEEShub
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Abstract
Earthquake engineering is a vibrant inter-disciplinary area that brings together researchers from seismology, structural, mechanical, and geotechnical engineering whose effort results in saving lives and protecting property during earthquakes and tsunamis. The NEES Data Repository serves the needs of the earthquake engineering community. Research teams carry out path-breaking research on small and large scale models using among other equipment shake tables, tsunami basins, and centrifuges. Such diversity represents a challenge for the collection of data and of sufficient documentation to make the data and the conditions of their origin understandable, not only to the earthquake research community, but also to practitioners and educators in the present and in the future.
Data use and re-use is one of the key goals of the NEES, during this talk I will discuss some of the solutions implemented by the NEEScomm IT team in the NEEShub that help to manage research data, collect necessary metadata and documentation for correct understanding and interpretation of the archived data. The high-quality of metadata, their consistency and predictability is essential for successful stewardship of research data and for easy transfer of knowledge from the research team to the repository with as little loss as possible. The tools that assist research teams with archiving their data need to be intuitive and non-intrusive so that the processes of metadata capture and solicitation of documentation can be pushed upstream back to the research teams that are the best source information. The NEES preservation framework is a blend of system provided data, information extracted from the files themselves, and metadata solicited from the research teams. It is an environment that provides storage for long-term access to authentic re-usable research data and preservation services, as well as virtual space for sharing and collaboration.
Bio
Stanislav Pejša is the Data Curator at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations (NEES) located in Discovery Park at Purdue University. He is primarily responsible for the quality of data uploaded to the NEES data repository. He oversees evolution of data from mere aggregation of sensor measurements to fully curated research projects with metadata and documentation necessary for re-use, long-term access, and preservation. He is also involved in developing workflows and metadata solutions for improving access to and preservation of the research data stored in the repository and delivered through the NEEShub platform. He is interested in exploring new ways of effective sharing and interoperability of research data and issues related to their preservation.