UC3
DataONE Meeting Summary (with Video!)
For the last few days, I have been at the lovely Tamaya Resort and Spa, located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. I did not, however, take advantage of the myriad massages, mud baths, and body wraps available for guests. I instead immersed myself in the world of ecological and environmental data. It was […]
Open Science: What the Fuss is About
I advocate for open science. I love the word open and all of the things that his word implies for science. In keeping with last week’s post exploring what “data curation” means, here I touch very briefly on what open science means, and how it relates to the Excel add-in we are developing. Let me […]
Curation: It’s in the Project Title, But What Does It Mean?
I am a newcomer to the world of libraries and information science. Being the new kid on the block is a familiar feeling for me: I have always been one to seek out new and interesting approaches to my questions, whether it be learning mathematical modeling and genetic sequencing techniques to explore clam populations, or […]
Excel Tips and Tricks
I spent much of last week talking to scientists about Excel. One of the questions I asked is What drives you crazy about Excel? This definitely falls in the opening-a-can-of-worms category, but people were surprisingly clear and helpful in their comments. Some of the complaints surfaced in multiple conversations, and I had to wonder whether the […]
Welcome to the DCXL blog!
Check back soon for updates on the Digital Curation for Excel (DCXL) project.
Who Am I Forgetting?
I’m currently working on the development of user scenarios for the Excel add-in. That means I’m charged with summing up all of the scientists that might use this add-in with a few concise, tidy profiles, then predicting how they might use the Add-in. Step 1: Categorizing Scientists. You can help! If you see a category I’ve […]
No Scientist Left Behind: The Case for Data Education (Part II)
If you read my last post, you know that I am an advocate for better data education for scientists at all levels. I focused on the need for better education of scientists-in-training (i.e. graduate students and postdocs), but this might actually be a bit late. All science graduate students took classes with a mandatory laboratory […]
No Scientist Left Behind: The Case for Data Education (Part I)
I always assumed my advisor had a great data and computer file management system. But when I asked her for a particular piece of information, it took her a week to find it and get it into a useable form for me. This paraphrased statement was made by a Geology PhD graduate student while I […]
Notes on an Amazing Existing Excel Add-In
Last week I had an interesting conversation with Hazel Asuncion from University of Washington’s Bothell campus. Along with an undergraduate computer science student, she’s been working on the development of an add-in for Excel that helps track data provenance. “Hmm…”, you are thinking, “what is data provenance?” (at least, that’s what I asked when I […]
DCXLblog Lite
Due to a number of upcoming activities associated with the DCXL project, both of this week’s posts are quite… light. However there was a great webinar yesterday about DCXL- Here’s the link. It’s about 45 minutes of riveting discussion about DCXL, data management practices among scientists, and our future plans for the project. The DCXL […]