1. EXPLAIN IT WHY YOUR RESEARCH DESERVES GOOD DOCUMENTATION AND METADATA

2. Why create documentation? Creating documentation can seem like a waste of time Good documentation will include a lot of information that might seem obvious www.flickr.com/photos/smutjespickles/2434418686/

3. Make material understandable What’s obvious now might not be in a few months, years, decades… Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5692813531/ MAKE SURE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT LATER

4. Make material verifiable Detailing your methods helps people understand what you did Explaining your algorithms, search methods etc makes your work reproducible Conclusions can be verified Image by woodleywonderworks on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4588700881/

5. Material may be re-used by someone in a different discipline Provide context to minimise the risk of it being misunderstood or misused Make material reusable

6. Documentation & Metadata Metadata are: –Machine readable –Written according to standards “I guess it makes sense for a robot to read an e-book [401]” by brianjmatis on flickr

7. Make material findable Comprehensive descriptive metadata allows relevant material to be discovered more easily Related materials (eg other files) can be located

8. What to include Who created it, when and why Include: Description of the item Methodology Units of measurement References to related data Define: Jargon Acronyms Codes – provide a key Provide: Technical information about the file (may be generated automatically)

9. www.texample.net Who created it, when and why Include: Description of the item Methodology Units of measurement References to related data What to include (I) description n. A set of characteristics by which something can be recognised M. Farinelli et al. (2012) PLoS ONE 7(3): e34047

10. What to include (II) CC Gavin Llewellyn http://www.flickr.com/photos /gavinjllewellyn/6826303487/ Provide technical information about the file (may be generated automatically) Define jargon, acronyms and code

11. Explain it Create documentation to make data: –Understandable –Findable (and searchable) –Verifiable –Re-usable Explain: –Who created it, when and why –Methodologies and analysis techniques –Jargon, acronyms and code

12. Open Access Teaching Materials for Digital Preservation Produced by Anna Collins (2012) for the JISC- funded PrePARe project This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License