Data Standards
From TracingNetworksWiki
Tracing Networks Data standards
The ADS Archaeology Data Service recommends certain standards for storage, preservation and migration of data in the long run. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/
Tracing networks will aim at following the ADS standards as long as they make sense for our data sets. Comprehensive guidelines can be found here:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/userinfo/deposit_guidelines/deposit_create1.cfm?sect=1
A few key points:
1. Always plan for data to be re-used by others.
2. Document what you do and keep track of Metadata. At project level this should include:
a. Title - please indicate the title (and any alternatives) for the dataset. b. Description - please provide a brief summary (max. 200-300 words) of the main aims and objectives of the research project (or alternative process) from which the data collection arose. c. Subject - please suggest keywords for the subject content of the dataset. d. Coverage - please give the current and contemporary name(s) of the country, region, county, town or village covered by the data collection. e. Creators - please list details about the creator(s), compiler(s), funding agencies, or other bodies or people intellectually responsible for the data collection. Information can include forename, surname, affiliation, address, phone, fax, email, or URL. f. Publisher - please list details about any organisation which has published this data. g. Identifiers - any project or reference numbers used by you or your organisation to identify the dataset. h. Dates - when the dataset was created, when the archaeological project was carried out, processing dates, or computerisation dates as appropriate. i. Copyright - please provide the name of the copyright holder for the dataset. j. Relations - if the data collection was derived in whole or in part from published or unpublished sources, whether printed or machine-readable, please give references to the original material. Language - please indicate which language(s) your dataset is in (e.g. English, French, Cornish). k. Resource Type - is this dataset best described as primary data, processed data, an interpretation of data, or a final report? l. Format - please indicate what format your data is saved in (e.g. WordPerfect 5.1, HTML, AutoCAD).
3. File Naming Strategy
Filenames should use only alpha-numeric characters (a-z, 0-9), the hyphen (-) and the underscore (_). Both upper and lower case characters can be used in a filename but try and keep files within your project consistent and ensure that supplied documentation accurately reflects the case of your filenames. For example, once files are moved over to a case-sensitive operating system such as UNIX, report.doc would become a different file to Report.doc. No other punctuation or special characters should be included within the filename. Spaces in filenames cause particular problems when files are transferred to our UNIX server. We recommend using the underscore character to imply a space within your filename.
A full stop (.) should be used as a separator between the filename and the file extension and should not be used elsewhere within the filename. File extensions are normally 3 characters long and we recommend they are lower case.
Keep filenames consistent. Filenames should be unique within a collection. Descriptive or non-descriptive filenames can be used. A descriptive filename helps explain the contents of the file. For example: TSA04_final_report_v3.pdf (version 3 of final site report for site TSA04 as a pdf file) 12102004_trench_1.tif (digital photograph of trench 1 taken on 12/10/2004)
