(acknowledgements to Mary Mowat, BGS) Re-using data- MEDIN Data Guidelines Roseanna Wright (acknowledgements to Mary Mowat, BGS)

Why do we need MEDIN guidelines? data MEDIN GUIDELINES MEDIN know from bitter experience that, as time passes, assumed and unrecorded knowledge about the data gets lost Without this knowledge, the data may not be easily re-used or cannot be re-used at all! MEDIN Guidelines provide a framework for capturing the assumed and otherwise potentially unrecorded knowledge necessary to re-use marine data

What MEDIN data guidelines are… They are best practice guides on archiving marine data: They provide a list of information that should be collected with your data to ensure they can be re-used in the future. What MEDIN data guidelines are not… Protocols for collection methods Prescriptive of how you have to collect and store your data Metadata schema

Benefits of Data guidelines Allow knowledge to be captured at time of data collection or immediately afterwards Instill good practice amongst users Good for contracting organizations and contractors – standard format to work to (rather than a different format for each contract) Allow easy ingestion of data to Data Archiving Centres

One size does not fit all Our data model has to encompass everything from a sighting by a member of the public to a complex cruise survey or a historical time series! Guidelines are arranged by theme, tailored to different data collection methods and split into levels Where possible levels work across methods Theming and splitting allows guidelines to be ‘bolted’ together in different ways if needed for complex surveys (e.g. where collecting data using different methods in a single survey)

Data Guideline Structure 3 levels: General Metadata Project Survey Detailed Metadata Methods Data Station Sample Event Sample Data Common to all guidelines Specific to each guideline

5. Methods

Data guidelines Downloads as zip file Always download latest version from website

Data Guidelines Summary Check list Detailed guidance

Data Guidelines Summary Check list Detailed guidance

Data Guidelines Summary Check list Detailed guidance

Data Guidelines Summary Check list Detailed guidance

Data Guidelines Detailed guidance

Data Guideline template

Data Files Data should be be QC’d before submission Contact DAC if data not in a standard format Raw and processed data accepted if clearly specified/useful Don’t include duplicate/draft files - Ensure data is in final form Data should be well organised – Standard folder structure GIS/shape files can be included (M Mowat, BGS, Nov 2016)

Summary MEDIN Data Guidelines Best practice guides on archiving marine data Data + Metadata Flexible - Bolt Together Collect Once – Use Many Times!

Guideline walkthrough

Guideline practical Choose one example MEDIN dataset from options in next slide Go to Data Guidelines page on the MEDIN website Locate appropriate Guideline(s) for the data and download Perform a checking exercise with the data do you have all mandatory information? What about the conditional and optional? Are the data formatted for MEDIN compliance? Try and complete a guideline using the selected data

MEDIN datasets Open folder Guideline_Practical: Biodiversity: Download MEDIN Grab Core Guideline and complete using data found in raw dataset ‘Exciting_Rock_SAC_grab_data’ Bathymetry: Download MEDIN Bathymetry Guideline and complete using records in directory ‘HI362’ Alternative: Your own data