Data Management and Publishing
What is Data?
When we talk about data we are referring to:
- Observational: data captured in real-time, usually irreplaceable
- Experimental: data from lab equipment, often reproducible, but can be expensive
- Simulation: data generated from test models where model and metadata (inputs) are more important than output data
- Derived or compiled: data that is reproducible (but very expensive)
Examples: Sensor data, telemetry, survey data, sample data, neuroimages.
Examples: gene sequences, chromatograms, toroid magnetic field data
Examples: climate models, economic models
Examples: text and data mining, compiled database, 3D models, data gathered from public documents
| Data formats can be: | Storage file formats include: |
| Text | ascii, Word, PDF |
| Numerical | ascii, SPSS, STATA, Excel, Access, MySQL |
| Multimedia | jpeg, tiff, dicom, mpeg, quicktime |
| Models | 3D, statistical |
| Software | Java, C |
| Discipline specific | FITS in astronomy, CIF in chemistry |
| Instrument specific | Olympus Confocal Microscope Data Format |
This page was last updated on Thursday, 16-Jul-2009 08:02:27 EDT
For advice on a data management project, contact:
Anne Graham
Civil and Environmental Engineering Librarian
Katherine McNeill
Data Services and Economics Librarian
Amy Stout
Computer Science Librarian
Lisa Sweeney
Head of GIS Services
For help on a data management project, contact: data-management@mit.edu