Data management and sharing
Using sophisticated data repositories and access to high speed networks, researchers can manage, store, share and process data more effectively, with improved security, and with expanded possibilities.
Whether you are handling standard-sized interview transcripts or ultra-high resolution images, as a researcher, you must devise methods of storing, backing up, and archiving your data files. While individual researchers may devise their own solutions to these challenges, this process must also be navigated by groups of researchers working in teams.
eResearch holds three key implications for data management:
Data storage
Wrestling with the data explosion is a common research experience.
While some researchers handle data files that are simply too big to back-up on desktop computers, others face the challenge of sharing data across distributed locations, and all need to solve the archiving dilemma: where and how should archived data be stored, and how should access be controlled.
Centralised data repositories can store huge amounts of raw or processed data and provide continuity of access to files when researchers go on the road, projects finish, or staff change institutions.
By simply dragging and dropping files from your computer to the local node of eResearch SA's data repository network drive, you can back-up your research to one secure, central, and easy to access location. Access control lists help you and your research team manage who has access to data files and provide high-level data security in a shared environment.
eResearch techniques for data storage can also streamline the task of archiving material. Old and infrequently used data can be archived to tape, leaving more room on the active disks for new, high traffic data. Archived data is automatically retrievable, simplifying what can otherwise be a matter of searching through stacks of old hard drives, CD-ROMs, or boxes of paper files.
Date stamps on data files provide evidence of the providence of data, or simply allow researchers to sift backwards through their archived material.
In South Australia, researchers have access to the South Australian Sustainable Repository (SASR), which provides free for moderate use centralised data storage for university researchers.
Once on-board, many researchers discover they are in an excellent position to take advantage of other eResearch SA (eRSA) data management resources, such as super computers for complex data processing and advanced collaboration tools for data sharing.
Data processing
eResearch techniques for data processing have opened up new and previously unimagined possibilities for data mining and analysis. High speed networks move data to super computers which can perform data processing tasks that desktop machines are simply unable to deal with.
Shared access to high performance computing infrastructure enables researchers to capitalise on equipment that would otherwise fall outside the scope of their own institutions' resources. Some research projects require access to super computers infrequently or only for very large and complex analysis tasks, making the sharing of networked resources a logical economy, as well as a practical necessity.
In South Australia, eRSA has three supercomputers that are available for complex jobs that require large amounts of memory and processing power.
Data sharing
Advances in networking technologies and applications have made it possible for researchers to work in a distributed fashion without leaving their desks, enabling collaboration with other researchers from across the globe, across the country, and across the street.
Technologies that facilitate web and video conferencing continue to expand the kinds of research collaboration that is possible, while the infrastructure available for data sharing continues to improve access to research conducted outside of researchers' immediate environments.
Whether the research that you want to do involves the integration and manipulation of data from different locations around the world, or whether you want to send data to a processing facility located across town, high speed networks, centralised data repositories and web-based collaboration tools like Sakai can help you share data in controlled ways within and across research teams and institutions.
