1. WHAT IS DATA? (And why you should care)

2. What is ‘data’? Questions to consider: How do you define ‘data’? Does it matter how ‘data’ is defined? What is your data?

3. What is ‘data’? “A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.” Digital Curation Centre Any information you use in your research

4. Why you should care Reason 1: Data are fragile and easy to lose

5. Storage media are fragile Data can be easily lost: Fire, flood, natural disasters Theft Computer viruses Mislaid It can be hard to find digital information without a system in place to deal with it Data are fragile

6. Why you should care Reason 2: Data are part of your (research) legacy

7. Take responsibility for your data Make sure you delegate care of your data to people/organisations you can trust Send your research into the future! Looking after your data gives them a life when you’ve finished using them for your own research. Data are part of your legacy

8. Open Access Teaching Materials for Digital Preservation Produced for the JISC-funded PrePARe project (2012) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-- ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.Creative Commons Attribution-- ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License