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Not by metadata alone: the use of diverse forms of knowledge to locate data for reuse

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Abstract

An important set of challenges for eScience initiatives and digital libraries concern the need to provide scientists with the ability to access data from multiple sources. This paper argues that an analysis of scientists‘ reuse of data prior to the advent of eScience can illuminate the requirements and design of digital libraries and cyberinfrastructure. As part of a larger study on data sharing and reuse, I investigated the processes by which ecologists locate data that were initially collected by others. Ecological data are unusually complex and present daunting problems of interpretation and analysis that must be considered in the design of cyberinfrastructure. The ecologists that I interviewed found ways to overcome many of these difficulties. One part of my results shows that ecologists use formal and informal knowledge that they have gained through disciplinary training and through their own data-gathering experiences to help them overcome hurdles related to finding, acquiring, and validating data collected by others. A second part of my findings reveals that ecologists rely on formal notions of scientific practice that emphasize objectivity to justify the methods they use to collect data for reuse. I discuss the implications of these findings for digital libraries and eScience initiatives.

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  1. Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work, School of Information, University of Michigan, 1075 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2112, USA

    Ann Zimmerman

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  1. Ann Zimmerman
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Correspondence to Ann Zimmerman.

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Zimmerman, A. Not by metadata alone: the use of diverse forms of knowledge to locate data for reuse. Int J Digit Libr 7, 5–16 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00799-007-0015-8

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