Paper Info
Title
Uncertainty about the Long-Term: Digital Libraries, Astronomy Data, and Open Source Software.
Abstract
Digital library developers make critical design and implementation decisions in the face of uncertainties about the future. We present a qualitative case study of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a major astronomy project that will collect and make available large-scale datasets. LSST developers make decisions now, while facing uncertainties about its period of operations (2022--2032). Uncertainties we identify include topics researchers will seek to address, tools and expertise, and availability of other infrastructures to exploit LSST observations. LSST is using an open source approach to developing and releasing its data management software. We evaluate benefits and burdens of this approach as a strategy for addressing uncertainty. Benefits include: enabling software to adapt to researchers' changing needs; embedding LSST standards and tools in community practices; and promoting interoperability with other infrastructures. Burdens include: open source community management; documentation requirements; and trade-offs between software speed and accessibility.
Year
DOI
Venue
2017
10.1109/JCDL.2017.7991584
JCDL
Keywords
Field
DocType
Astronomy,Big data,Big science,Data management,Data curation,Knowledge infrastructures,Long term,Open source,Scientific data
Astronomy,Data science,Interoperability,Computer science,Data curation,Exploit,Software,Digital library,Documentation,Data management,Big data
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
2575-7865
978-1-5386-3861-3
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
9
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Peter T. Darch1184.55
Ashley Sands2376.22