CODATA Data Archiving Activities

1. CODATA Data Archiving Activities Bill Anderson Co-chair CODATA Scientific Data Preservation Task Group Inter-American Workshop on Environmental Data Access 3 - 6 March, 2004, Campinas, SP, Brazil

2. Overview • CODATA Archiving Activities • CODATA Workshop in South Africa • CODATA Task Group • CODATA/ERPANET Workshop in Portugal • ICSTI/CODATA Archiving Portal • Archiving Workshop in China • CODATA Conference 2004 in Berlin • Future plans • Summary

3. CODATA Archiving Activities • Initial Working Group formed in 2000 • Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa, May 2002 • Annotated list of primary references • Preliminary classification of issues • CODATA Task Group formed focusing on developing countries in 2002 • CODATA/ERPANET Workshop, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2003 • CODATA/ICSTI STI archiving portal - in progress • Workshop in Beijing, China, June 2004 • Workshop in southern Africa, proposed 2005 • Workshop in South America in 2006 ?

4. CODATA Workshop in South Africa • Held at the National Research Foundation (NRF), Pretoria, South Africa, 20-21 May 2002 • Foster a greater understanding of the requirements and major issues with S&T data at the South African Data Archive and the NRF • Used case studies to identify and assess the issues in 4 areas: scientific, technical, management, and policy • Attended by 70 representatives of more than 30 South African science agencies, universities, and archives • Collaboration among CODATA, South African National CODATA Committee, and the National Research Foundation. • Report available at www.codata.org

5. Preservation and Archiving of Scientific and Technical Data in Developing Countries • Task Group objectives: • Improve understanding of S&T data management conditions in developing countries • Advance development and adoption of good archiving and records management practices, policies, and tools • Provide interdisciplinary forums (South Africa (2002), Portugal (2003), China (2004), southern Africa (proposed, 2005)) • Build a comprehensive directory of managers, experts, and archives

6. CODATA/ERPANET Workshop in Lisbon, Portugal • Held at the Biblioteca Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal, 15-17 December 2003 • Focus on selection, appraisal, and retention of digital scientific data • Used disciplinary and interdisciplinary case studies to identify and assess the commonalities and differences among disciplines in this area • Attended by 60 data managers, researchers, records managers, archivists, and librarians from 13 countries • See www.erpanet.org for more information

7. ICSTI-CODATA Portal to Scientific and Technical Data and Information Preservation and Archiving Resources • Business plan to develop and maintain an Internet portal for archiving digital S&T data and information • Will build on and help integrate the work of ICSU bodies, especially of the CODATA Task Group, with the work being done in this area by other relevant groups and organizations • Endorsed by CODATA and ICSTI • Prototype is currently in development at the National Academies, and expected to be formally launched at November CODATA Conference in Berlin

8. CODATA Workshop in Beijing, China • Interdisciplinary workshop on developing strategies for open access to, and preservation of, digital scientific data sources to be held in June 2004 • Examine the opportunities and challenges with an emphasis on biomedical and environmental sciences and related STM journals • Collaboration among the U.S. and China National CODATA Committees, the CODATA Archiving Task Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, with input from ICSTI and the International Council on Archives • Builds on the successful workshop convened by the CODATA Archiving Working Group in South Africa in May 2002

9. 19th International CODATA Conference • The 19th CODATA International Conference — The Information Society: New Horizons for Science takes place 7-10 November 2004, in Berlin, Germany. • Keynote and other sessions on scientific and technical data archiving and preservation of access.

10. CODATA Workshop for Southern African Development Community • In planning stage: planned venue is Gaborone, Botswana, 2005 • Focus on long-term preservation and open access to digital health and environmental scientific information resources in the 14 countries that comprise the SADC • Will build on the results of the 2002 South African workshop and the 2004 Chinese workshop • Collaboration among CODATA, the CODATA Archiving Task Group, the South African National CODATA Committee, South African National Research Foundation, and the South African National Development Agency.

11. CODATA Workshop in South America • Proposal: CODATA workshop on the long-term preservation of, and open access to, scientific and technical data and information resources of regional importance in South America in 2006 • Explore regional conditions, requirements, and activities related to preservation and access; focus on content and topic areas of local importance • Build and draw on experiences of past workshops • Develop a regional network of data managers, researchers, and existing and emerging data collections.

12. CODATA Future Activities • Vision: CODATA series of regional workshops that • Focus on long-term preservation of, and open access to, scientific and technical data and information resources of local importance • Build networks and collaboration among researchers, data and records managers, government science officials and policy makers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and public and private donor and development institutions.

13. Summary • CODATA data archiving activities will pursue opportunities to • Promote and advance long-term preservation and management of , and access to, S&T data • Leverage common properties of digital S&T data and information • Learn from previous and ongoing experiences with managing growing collections of digital data and information

14. Discussion