Content Base material What kind of scanners do we use? How do we get the data into spreadsheets?

1. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experienceTheo.Brandsma@KNMI.nlRoyal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)International Workshop on Rescue of Climate Records in the Mediterranean BasinTaragona, Spain, 28-30 November 2007

2. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience • Content • Base material • What kind of scanners do we use? • How do we get the data into spreadsheets? • Do’s and don'ts

3. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience • Base material • Hardcopy (original or copy) • Films • Digital images

4. CopiBook bookscanner Contex Chameleon G600 Canon DR5010C Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience • What kind of scanners do we use? • Bookscanner • Large format scanner • Fast document scanner

5. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience • How do we get the data into spreadsheets? • Manually typing • Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software • Using speach recognition software • Automatic Curve Extraction (ACE) software

6. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (1) Start with an inventarisation of historical climate data

7. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (2) Check if the data is already available somewhere in digitized form

8. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (3) A professional should check the data source before having it digitized

9. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (4) Gather all relevant metadata and supply them (at least in English) together with the digitized data

10. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (5) Use university students for typing in your data but let them know what is expected of them and check them regularly

11. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (6) Don’t forget to rigorously quality control your data

12. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (7) Don’t assume that processing the data after digitization is routine work

13. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (8) For many data sources it is worthwhile to supply images of the original data together with the digitized data

14. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (9) Use the operational infrastructure of your institute for centrally archiving (including back-up) of digitized data and digital images

15. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (10) Assess the sustainability of your storage media

16. www.knmi.nl/klimatologie Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (11) Put the data freely on the internet and provide the world databases with a copy

17. Data rescue and digitization: tips and tricks resulting from the Dutch experience Do’s and don'ts (12) Enjoy your work!!