Study on the Long-term Retention of Selected Scientific and Technical Records of the Federal Government Working Papers (1995) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
I. REPORT OF THE PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MATERIALS SCIENCES DATA PANEL
I. REPORT OF THE PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MATERIALS SCIENCES DATA PANEL
Pages 1-22
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
Kaufman, Kirby Kemper, David Lide, Jr., and Edgar Westrum, Jr. CONTENTS 1 Introduction and Overview, 1 2 Characteristics of Data in Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Sciences, 2 3 Data Management Requirements, 5 4 Illustrative Examples of Electronic Records from Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Sciences, 8 Data Retention and Record Preservation Criteria, 14 6 Suggested Role of the National Archives and Records Administration, 15 7 Summary Conclusions and Recommendations, 19 Acknowledgments, 21 Bibliography, 21 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW This report is concerned with the long-term retention of scientific data-generated or held by the federal government in the laboratory physical sciences exemplified by physics, chemistry, and materials sciences.
|
From page 2... ...
Thus, we see primary responsibility for preserving electronically stored scientific data remaining with those currently preserving and supplying scientific information. There is, however, an enhanced role for NARA to play: in preserving electronically stored scientific information for access outside the scientific-technical community; in helping facilitate access to electronically stored scientific records by providing (or cooperating in the provision of)
|
From page 3... ...
There is a need to build a proper relational record into scientific data holdings to note linkages and dependencies between observational data and laboratory data. As just noted, one characteristic that distinguishes physics, chemistry, and materials sciences data from earth sciences data, for example, is the possibility of reproducing the conditions under which the measurements were made and, therefore, being able to repeat the measurements at a later time.
|
From page 4... ...
Nowadays, many raw data are acquired and processed electronically "on the fly" so that only processed data exist long enough for anyone to look at. With rapid automated data acquisition and manipulation, the option exists to keep (electronic)
|
From page 5... ...
· to handle myriad appropriate data formats and yet to ensure that data are retrievable and usable. · to consider data management and preservation, and to provide guidance to scientists as to appropriate formats for data of long-term value, during project initiation.
|
From page 6... ...
Locator System Since scientific and technical electronically recorded data sets are, and will continue to be, held by numerous institutions, there is an urgent, ever-increasing need to develop a locator system so that those needing the data can be aware of their existence and can access them. Scientific data that have been preserved but are not used by other researchers might just as well not exist; they are not contributing to the accumulation of scientific knowledge and understanding.
|
From page 7... ...
The criteria should be accessibility, suitability, longevity, and stability of the storage medium. Data Formats Computer-compatible electronic data coming from the laboratory physical sciences are of many different types (graphics, images, multi-media, numbers, equations, symbols, text)
|
From page 8... ...
Nuclear Information Analysis Center which goes by the acronym of its former name, DASIAC is the Defense Nuclear Agency's (DNA) repository for information from nuclear weapons tests.
|
From page 9... ...
The JANAF thermochemical tables provide recommended temperature-dependent values for chemical thermodynamic properties of inorganic substances and for organic substances containing only one or two carbon atoms. The tables cover the thermodynamic properties over a wide temperature range with single-phase and multiphase tables for the crystal, liquid, and ideal gas state.
|
From page 10... ...
became interested in the JANAF thermochemical tables because the tables had become the benchmark for thermochemical data for performance calculations. However, the reactions and reagents of interest to DOE differed from those of primary concern to the U.S.
|
From page 11... ...
An equally important reason to archive these tables is to meet the scientific needs of primary and secondary users of chemical thermodynamic data. Panel comments The above description and history illustrates the scientific value of the JANAF tables, about which the editor of the Journal of Physica/ and Chemical Reference Data wrote,6 "Of the almost 300 titles we have published in the last 14 years, the four supplements to the JANAF Thermochemical Tab/es .
|
From page 12... ...
. Example S: Radiation Chemistry Data Center The Radiation Chemistry Data Center (RCDC)
|
From page 13... ...
Example 6: Aluminum Fracture Toughness Data Bank Test results documenting the dependence on several variables of plane-strain fracture toughness of aluminum alloys used in critical aerospace applications were pulled together by the Aluminum Association and the Metals Properties Council in the years 1970-1985. These were subsequently made available in electronic format by the National Materials Property Data Network, Inc.
|
From page 14... ...
NARA's Laboratory Data Holdings While picking illustrative examples and considering the relation of the above examples to the National Archives and Records Administration, the panel asked about the physical sciences data in NARA's Center for Electronic Records. Of the thousands of holdings in the Center, very few are related to the physical sciences and apparently none contain scientific data of the kind represented by the above examples.
|
From page 15... ...
that might otherwise be lost because the responsible institution is no longer able or willing to maintain them. 6 SUGGESTED ROLE OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION As discussed in Section 1, the panel s answer to the question of who should save scientific data is that these data should, wheneverfeasible, be saved by those institutions best equipped to make them accessible to the primary users of the data, the scientific community.
|
From page 16... ...
More Flexibility on Data Formats and Storage Media Greater involvement in the archiving of scientific data would mean that NARA would be serving a community new to it. The scientific community uses, in addition to conventional modes, forms of communication quite different from the normal language and numerical tabulations used by NARA's current clients.
|
From page 17... ...
One guest of the panel observed that the current restrictions on electronic records are analogous to requiring all paper records to be typed double-spaced on 8.5" x 11" white rag paper using pica type and a carbon ribbon. NARA should be encouraged to accept more physical and electronic formats and recognize widely utilized data formats.
|
From page 18... ...
A number of panel visitors and members observed that the NARA brochures are authoritarian, legalistic, and not conducive to establishing productive partnerships with NARA. Considering the many institutions, private as well as public, with interests and expertise in scientific data and in electronic data formats, NARA's future effectiveness in archiving such information requires that NARA improve its relations with other agencies and institutions in the data world.
|
From page 19... ...
In summary, data can have long-term retention value either because of the difficulty of reproducing them (e.g., nuclear test data, materials property data) or from the effort put into collecting and processing them (e.g., extensive critical compilations)
|
From page 20... ...
Performance criteria for data formats are much more likely to meet these underlying objectives than are rigid format requirements that become obsolete quickly and that may not accommodate all types of technical data.
|
From page 21... ...
At the panel's first meeting, in July 1993, it benefited from presentations by and detailed discussions with Robert Billingsley, Defense Technical Information Center; Mark Conrad of NARA; SuzanneLeech,Bionetics,Inc.;andPatriciaSchuene,BauellePacificNorthwestLaboratory. Inaddition,Victona McLane of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the staff of the National Archives and Records Administration and the National Research Council, provided substantial amounts of pnuted material for the panel's consideration and discussion.
|
From page 22... ...
1993. "Comments for NRC Briefing" (briefing notes, including a description of data holdings at the National Nuclear Data Center)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.