Lichtgedanken 03

Rubrik 59 03 | LICHT GEDANKEN Satellite images of climate data, re- sults of sociological surveys, as well as growth curves of national economies or microorganisms—in nearly all scientific disciplines nowadays, new findings are based on the analysis of large amounts of digital data. Scientist frequently work for years on accumulating these data- sets, which then fill vast storage devices and require huge computing capacity for processing. This constitutes a verit- able »treasure trove« of data. »In many cases, such measurements are unique and cannot easily be repeated,« notes Prof. Birgitta König-Ries. From the po- int of view of science, it is absolutely imperative to make efficient use of this wealth of data. However, to date only a small part of all primary data finds its way into scientific publications, databa- ses or public archives, adds König-Ries, who holds the Heinz-Nixdorf Chair for Distributed Information Systems. Projects Securing, using and sharing Constantly increasing amounts of scientific data from observations, experiments or measurements not only require greater computer storage capacity, but also sustainable research data management. This is current- ly being significantly expanded at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. BY UTE SCHÖNFELDER To change this situation, the Universi- ty Jena aims to deal with digital data sustainably and efficiently, and to this end it is expanding its research data management. In a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Re- search (BMBF), various building blocks for effective and efficient research data management will be developed and tested by 2019. The project is receiving around 467,000 euros in funding. International infrastructure »Our aim is to expand and improve our range of services in the area of research data management and of data collec- tion, including secure data storage over the long term,« says Prof. König-Ries, who leads the project. In practice, the plan is to offer advice to researchers that is specifically relevant to their discipline and that informs them about data ma- nagement plans, data platforms or me- tadata standards, for example. To this end, existing services will be brought together and coordinated in the »Re- search Data Management Helpdesk«, set up in 2015. »Additionally, we want to professionali- se the processes for sustainable research data storage, and integrate them into a national or international infrastruc- ture,« adds Roman Gerlach, who works with Prof. König-Ries in the »Research Data Management Helpdesk«. With re- gard to the publication and long-term storage of research data, Gerlach refers to the existing »Digital Library of Thu- ringia«. Furthermore, project members will work with the international scien- tific community to develop criteria and methods for sustainable quality assu- rance in the area of research data mana- gement. ARA Cluster of the Institute of Computer Science in the University’s Computer Centre. The High-Per- formance Computer system (HPC) works with at least 300 processors. In order to obtain scientific information from the flood of digital data that is currently available, high-performance computing and data-based sciences are working hand-in-hand. Sustainable research data management secures the treasure trove of data for the worldwide scientific community and for future use.