Atle Alvheim

Luxembourg 26 - 27 October 2006

Assistant Director Norwegian Social Science Data Services

Assessing the feasibility of

micro-data access

Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD)

www.nsd.uib.no

nsd@nsd.uib.no

There is a lack of “Tools for thought”

time spent on digesting and thinking

time spent on finding and accessing )(Maximize

”Much more time went into finding or obtaining information than into digesting it” Dr. J.C.R. Licklider

Only a fraction of data resources available on line

Lack of standardization Poor integration

between data and metadata

Institutional, legal, and commercial obstacles

All empirical data available on-line

An integrated gateway to be used to integrate and locate relevant resources

The ability to browse, visualize, and analyze data on-line

Hyperlinks from data to relevant scientific publications and resources

Empirical feedback system to build the collective memory of a data collection

Situation to-daySituation to-day Situation tomorrow?Situation tomorrow?

What are we looking for?

Data

Metadata Tools

DataSharing

Why are metadata important?

Unlabeled stuff Labeled stuff

The bean example is taken from: A Manager’sIntroduction to Adobe eXtensible Metadata Platform, http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/pdfs/whitepaper.pdf

The functions of metadata

Finding

Understanding Assessing

Sharing

An international XML-based standard for the content, presentation, transport, and preservation of documentation

Benefits of the DDI Approach

Interoperability

Richer content

Single document - multiple purposes

On-line subsetting and analysis

Precision in searching

Codebooks can be exchanged and transported seamlessly, and applications can be written to work with these homogeneous documents.Providing the data

analyst with broader knowledge about a given collection.

The codebook contains all of the information necessary to produce several different types of output.DDI documents are

easily imported into on-line analysis systems, rendering datasets more readily usable for a wider audience.

Field-specific searches across documents and studies are enabled.

Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)

A life-cycle model of data

Study Concept

DataCollection

DataProcessing

DataDistribution

DataDiscovery

DataAnalysis

DataArchiving

Repurposing

Combined life cycle model

A common European data portal

• Metadata is all about communication• Madiera: A set of tools, + an idea:

Data is a kernel that facilitates a ”discussion” • Maybe future libraries consist of datasets with

linked or derived knowledge-products, books, papers, tables, etc, wikis

• Could we imagine libraries of hypoteses ?• Libraries of questions and discussions more

than of answers ?

What was the specified MADIERA Objectives ?

• The development of an integrated and effective distributed social science portal to facilitate access to a range of data archives and disparate resources. WP3

• The development of specific add-ons to existing virtual data library technologies, in particular data location technology WP4

• The employment of a multi-lingual thesaurus to break the language barriers to the discovery of key resources. WP5

• An extensive programme to add content, both at the data/information and knowledge levels. WP6

• Extensive training of data providers and users to encourage the continuos growth of the infrastructure WP7

A Web of the Social Sciences

• Building on a distributed model where data and resources are stored and maintained locally

• For the end user the system will appear as a integrated system

• A virtual data library offering global access to locally supported data holdings

End users

Data providers

What is then necessary to develop useful procedures ?

• Metadata standards lift data from digits to research information

• Technical solutions, software: Information- and access systems, in addition to analysis and download possibilities

• Political agreements, conditions for data access• Economic agreements, logging, audits

EXAMPLE A common resourceEXAMPLE A common resource

European Social Survey (ESS)

europeansocialsurvey.org

ess.nsd.uib.no

An academically driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Aggregate dataANOTHER EXAMPLE: Aggregate data

The determinants of active civic participationat European and national level (CIVICACTIVE)

nsd.uib.no/civicactive

A third example: a common entry-pointA third example: a common entry-point

madiera.net

The MADIERA project has developed an effective infrastructure for the European social science community by integrating data with other tools, resources and products of the research process.

            

    

A schemeA Finnish

researcher

Attitudes towards Immigrants

(A problem area)

An Irishresearcher

Data on Finland (A geographic area)

A Swissresearcher

Eurobarometer (A data collection)

• A registration procedure, register with home archive

• Look up and access data across holdings

A ”Data-archive Political Context” for 20+ national archives

I. It might be money involved Is the data a free or commercial good ? There are categories of users,

what about non-academic use, non-CESSDA use ? Who are to fix the prices ?

II. Varying Access rules. The crossing of national borders What laws apply. Who set the rules Who is responsible ? What sanctions available ?

III. There are some “Common good” data Eurobarometers, Value studies, ISSP, ESS, Comparative

collections Could best be provided from one single point (?) Charging ? Access Conditions ? Double Storage ?

IV. It is a good thing to have national archives, enhances amount of data available and betters the accessibility. Need justification and visibility

All use the ”NESSTAR Publisher” / DDI

ELSST

Madiera: A common portal for all of Europe, ++

Portal

NSD

SSD

FSD

ZA

DDA

UKDA

DANS

Functionality:

Link many local serversSearch and browse possibilities__________________

Standardised software and standardised documentation Translation possibilities

Politics: Coordinated access rulesPoliticsMoney