Recovery of coastal data and using SPC as a repository for coastal data Working Paper 4

Short/medium term data collection Data is collected, stored, and analyzed to produce reports How valuable is the data after the report has been produced ? How is data stored/preserved ? There are many types of data Field surveys, socio-economic surveys Catch data, log books, aquaculture farms & production Exports, domestic shipments, agents purchases

Long term Survey sheets & paper reports Might be discarded, destroyed, lost Is there any other copy of the data/report ? Spreadsheet files and databases Might be corrupted, deleted, lost in a computer/hard drive crash The support/file format may become obsolete and unreadable

Long term Data collectors, surveyors & scientists Will eventually leave, retire etc. Intrinsic knowledge might be lost What was the survey design and assumptions ? How to read / interpret the data ?

The situation today Raw data is often Scattered In various formats Hard to understand Already lost

Identification of data sources and collecting data and metadata A detective work When, where, what data was collected ? Who holds the data What is the survey & sampling design ? In which format is data available ? What are corresponding reports, publications ?

Digitisation and data curation Cost-Benefit of digitization Can electronic data be imported ? Does it require cleaning ? Are paper forms worth data entry and/or scanning ? Does data entry require additional software development ? How much storage space will be required (e.g. photos)

Data sharing and access control Is data public or restricted ? Does this data become public after paper publication or X number of years ? How to ease access to data by partners, students, researchers

Long term digital preservation Data storage Data preservation & availability Content preservation (ensure its usability, usefulness) Recurring costs of data storage