This document discusses the PEG-BOARD project, which aims to bridge the gap between the data management needs of a research group called BRIDGE and their host institution, the University of Bristol. BRIDGE generates large amounts of paleoclimate and environmental data through Earth system modeling and other research. PEG-BOARD seeks to develop an open access data repository that addresses both the group's need to share data with collaborators and the institution's need to curate and provide access to research data. The project uses BRIDGE's data management experiences and needs as a case study for developing an institutional data curation solution.

1. PEG-BOARD
Bridging the gap between Research Group &
Institutional Data Management Needs
Gregory J. L. Tourte
School of Geographical Science
The University of Bristol
g.j.l.tourte@bristol.ac.uk
DCC Roadshow — 2010–11–02
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

2. Outline
Introduction
Position within the wider debate
Institutional and Research group solutions
Conclusion
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

3. Who we are
BRIDGE (Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment)
Research Group
Based in the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol
Very cross-disciplinary research with international collaboration
Currently 8 academics, about 15 postdocs and 15 PhD students
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

4. What We Do
Our aim is to improve our understanding of natural climate/environmental variability
and to use this knowledge to better predict future changes.
Major themes of the research include :
Rigorous evaluation of climate models with accurate proxy palaeoclimate records
Innovative Earth System modelling, and process studies for past, present and
future change
Impact of future climate change on spatial and temporal scales relevant to society,
and including timescales from decadal to millennial.
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

5. The PEG-BOARD Project
Palæoclimate & Environment data Generation — Building Open Access to
Research Data
JISC funded project within the Managing Research Data Programme
In collaboration with UKOLN, The University of Leeds, The University of
Southampton.
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

6. Where we come from. . .
Ad-hoc development of technical solution
Need to share data with research collaborators
Need to share data with a variety of other disciplines
Research grants usually cover data generation but not data maintenance
Storage and development agility requirements were beyond capacity of the
institutional IT team.
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

7. Technical context
Data deluge
data sets that start at terabytes
(thousands of gigabytes) in size
[...] are now commonplace.
– Dr John A Taylor,
Finding new ways to deal with large
datasets (CSIRO, 2007)
World’s digital content equivalent
to stack of books stretching from
Earth to Pluto 10 times
– Richard Wray,
Internet data heads for 500bn gigabytes
(The Guardian, 2009)
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

8. How much data do we work with?
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

9. What sorts of data do we work with?
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

10. Science as a social activity
The understanding of science as a social activity has changed quite radically
Mike Hulme and Jerome Ravetz
’Show Your Working’: What ’ClimateGate’ means (BBC, 2009)
Always be a unique function for expert
scientific review
Should not exclude other interested
and motivated parties
Demands for openness in Science
intensified by the Internet as a central
element of social life
Knowledge validation must also be
scrutinised by extented community of
citizens with legitimate stakes
To be empowered for use in plublic
debate and policy making, knowledge
must be fully exposed to the
proliferating new communication
media used by community
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

11. Who works with our data?
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

12. The pulse of data in educational reuse
0
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2008-032008-042008-052008-062008-072008-082008-092008-102008-112008-122009-012009-022009-032009-042009-052009-062009-072009-082009-092009-102009-112009-122010-012010-022010-032010-042010-05
Uniqueusageevents/month
Month
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

13. Political context
Political landscape
raw data for the climate models was not made available to the public. To try
to restore public confidence [future development will be] more open to the
public.
– Jonathan Gray, Climate Change, Climate Sceptics and Open Data
(Open Knowledge Foundation Blog, 2009)
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

14. Where we are now. . .
BRIDGE :
HPC infrastructure growing rapidly as
well as performance
We generate more and more data as
we can do more complicated science
with available technology
Data production is outgrowing our
capacity to afford an ad-hoc storage
solution
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

15. Where we are now. . .
BRIDGE :
HPC infrastructure growing rapidly as
well as performance
We generate more and more data as
we can do more complicated science
with available technology
Data production is outgrowing our
capacity to afford an ad-hoc storage
solution
Institution :
Storage requirements for other
departments is becoming critical,
especially in less technical disciplines
(arts and humanities)
Need to make data available to wider
community (other institutions and
research groups, general public,
press. . . )
Need for cater for security and privacy
of some potentially sensitive data
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

16. Using PEG-BOARD as a case study for
the Institutional Data Curation Solution
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD

17. The End. . .
Any Questions?
G. J. L. Tourte PEG–BOARD