Abstract
As research datasets and analyses grow in complexity, data that could be valuable to other researchers and to support the integrity of published work remain uncurated across disciplines. These data are especially concentrated in the “Long Tail” of funded research, where curation resources and related expertise are often inaccessible. In the domain of astronomy, it is undisputed that uncurated "dark data" exist, but the scope of the problem remains uncertain. The “Astrolabe” Project is a collaboration between University of Arizona researchers, the CyVerse cyberinfrastructure environment, and the American Astronomical Society, with a mission to identify and ingest previously-uncurated astronomical data, and to provide a robust computational environment for analysis and sharing of data, as well as services for authors wishing to deposit data associated with publications. Following expert feedback obtained through two workshops held in 2015 and 2016, Astrolabe is funded in part by National Science Foundation. The system is being actively developed within CyVerse, and Astrolabe collaborators are soliciting heterogeneous datasets and potential users for the prototype system. Astrolabe team members are currently working to characterize the properties of uncurated astronomical data, and to develop automated methods for locating potentially-useful data to be targeted for ingest into Astrolabe, while cultivating a user community for the new data management system.
Highlights
IntroductionThe organizational structure of this collaboration is further strengthened by the University of Arizona’s proximity to intellectual and technical resources, and its geographic centrality as a major hub for astronomy and information science research
Popular data lifecycle models highlight the complexity of research across disciplines, considering the deliberate re-use of scientific findings for subsequent research through established channels of review and dissemination as a key aspect of data lifecycles and an important priority for many disciplines and for scholarly publishing [1]-[4]
Publication of both research and data is an important component of the data curation lifecycle, and it is critical to develop resources that support the needs of the community and the advancement of the discipline
Summary
The organizational structure of this collaboration is further strengthened by the University of Arizona’s proximity to intellectual and technical resources, and its geographic centrality as a major hub for astronomy and information science research. The core mission of Astrolabe is to collect, preserve, and make accessible astronomical data that are not already successfully managed. The Astrolabe team is developing tools for analysis and to encourage data sharing, as well as curation resources for authors of data and associated publications. The Astrolabe Project aims to help researchers expose data at key stages of the research lifecycle, such as the point of submitting a publication, for example, or when collecting new data for an existing project
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