Data and Software: Preserving, Unlocking and Sharing - Lesson Learned from Astronomy

Abstract:

Publishing articles in scholarly journals is essential to furthering science. However, even though this is a key aspect, this is just a part of the picture. The entire research life cycle consists of so much more. It is a colorful palet of many different types of information products. Data products are a fundamental building block of the research life cycle; it is where all research starts and it is the foundation of any scholarly communication. Data products are so much more than just containers of numbers; they should refer to all products associated with the research life cycle. In this respect, software should be regarded as just as important as data products. We already have examples of useless data products, because we no longer have or can execute the software necessary to process the data. Astronomy has known a long tradition of sharing data. What lessons have been learned where it comes to preservation, discoverability and citation? On this poster we will explore initiavies and some of the lessons learned.