NAME CHANGES AND OTHER NEWS

You might notice that I haven’t spoken much about DCXL lately.  Alternatively, you read the blog for the riveting articles on data topics, in which case you might not realize that the blog was originally intended for updates on the DCXL project.  Well lucky you, because this blog post is chock-full of updates on the project, so after reading this all of you will be up to speed. In itemized form, here are the updates:

1. The DCXL project’s goal is to develop an add-in for Excel and a web application (for the differences between the two, see this blog post).  The names of these tools will NOT be DCXL: they will be called DataUp.  That means all things DCXL-related will be transitioning to DataUp.
2. The beta version of the DataUp add-in is due out by the end of June. The beta version of the web application will be shortly after that.
3. The first public release of DataUp tools (look for this in August) will connect to ONEShare, a special DataONE/UC3 data repository that will accept tabular data from DataUp users.  You don’t need to be a member of any particular repository, and the bar is low for requirements pertaining your data and metadata (for better or worse).
4. We are looking for beta testers! If you or your colleagues fancy getting first crack a DataUp, email me.  We are interested in getting feedback from a wide range of folks, so whatever your background don’t hesitate to sign up.
5. If you or someone you know considers themselves a graphic artist, feel free to design a logo for DataUp.  We are considering crowd-sourcing the job at a site like 99designs or CrowdSPRING, but it would be way more interesting to have a DataUp community member design it.  With credit, of course.
6. We are hoping for an extension of funds that will allow us to incorporate suggested improvements into DataUp before we widely release it. Stay tuned for updates on that front.  With that extension we would be able to create extensive documentation for other data centers to add their repository to the list of data deposition options.

The new DataUp site will be coming soon, and will likely have a new URL. Don’t worry, the DCXL URL will continue to work for a while.