Access to Data for eResearch: Designing the Australian National Data Service Discovery Services

Abstract

Much work on data repositories has derived from effort on document repositories. It is our contention that people do not access research data for the same reasons that they access research publications. We argue that it is valuable to understand information needs, both immediate and contextual, in establishing both what information should be collected, what metadata are captured, and what discovery services should be established. We report on the information needs that we have collected in our efforts in establishing the Australian National Data Service. These needs cover much more than data – there are needs for information about the data, their creators, a need for overviews, and further requirements to do with proof, collaboration, and innovation. We provide an analysis of those needs, and a set of conclusions that has led to some implementation decisions for ANDS.