Trialling Collective Access as a data curation and hosting platform
Mike Laverick1 1Centre for eResearch, University Of Auckland New Zealand
Abstract
This talk explores our recent exploration into supporting a University of Auckland archaeology research group to curate and host their project data using Collective Access – a use case that is becoming more and more common.
The nearly decade-long archaeology project uncovered over 200K artefacts with associated metadata, and while their data volume isn’t “large” (~50GB) the data is complex: metadata-rich, highly relational, and includes geospatial information. Data was spread across shapefiles, CSVs, and media files, which were shared across and worked on by multiple researchers over several years.
Could the curation process and workflows be improved for new and ongoing projects? How could this data be shared while respecting restrictions around culturally sensitive data? We set out to trial Collective Access (CA) as a solution to these issues, and the more general topics of data curation and hosting.
We report back our efforts, experience, successes, and sticking points with undertaking this project and hope it helps others who attempt to tackle similar scenarios.
Biography
Mike is a Senior eResearch Solutions Specialist for the Centre for eResearch at the University of Auckland.
Formerly an atomic astrophysicist at KU Leuven, Mike now uses his experience in research and programming
to help tackle the ever-growing digital needs of researchers. As part of the Rongowai mission, a collaboration
between NASA and the New Zealand Space Agency, Mike has helped develop operational data workflows
and visualisation tools. Mike is also a Python aficionado, helping to train and upskill researchers as a
Carpentries workshop instructor.