Solving Study Metadata Puzzles: Case Studies from Roper Center Reprocessing Activities
Marc Maynard · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2008
During the past several years the Roper Center has been reprocessing older data collections in order to make them available directly to researchers via RoperExpress download service. In a technical sense reprocessing of data files (particularly from IBM colbin binary-to-ASCII formats) seems fairly straightforward, but in order to bring more enhanced data resources, more fully developed metadata is desirable. But discovery and integration of methodological and variable level metadata for studies that are over 30 years old can be challenging. This paper will focus on several reprocessing case studies encountered over the past year, and from their unique scenarios try to develop a framework to guide this unique brand of detective work.