CDL has recently launched a new project dubbed Digital Curation for Excel (DCXL), funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Microsoft Research. The goal of the DCXL project is to facilitate data management, sharing, and archiving for earth, environmental, and ecological scientists. The main result from the project will be an open source add-in for Microsoft Excel that will assist scientists in preparing their Excel data for sharing.

1. DCXL:
Digital
Curation
for
Excel
Funders:
Gordon
&
Betty
Moore
Foundation,
Microsoft
Research
Carly
Strasser
UC3,
California
Digital
Library
carly.strasser@ucop.edu
22
Sept
2011

UC3
Webinar
Series

California
Digital
Library

2. Community
Build
on
existing
Engagement
cyberinfrastructure
Create
new
cyberinfrastructure
Support
communities

3. Roadmap
4. How
to
get
involved
in
DCXL
3. Progress
&
future
plans
2. Goals
of
DCXL
project
1. An
overview:
why
is
DCXL
needed?

4. Digital
data
+
Complex
workAlows

5. Data
Models
Maximum
Likelihood
estimation
Matrix
Models
Images
Tables
Paper

6. UGLY TRUTH
Most
Earth
|
Environmental
|
Ecological
scientists…
5shortessays.blogspot.com
are
not
taught
data
management
don’t
know
what
metadata
are
can’t
name
data
centers
or
repositories
don’t
share
data
publicly
or
store
it
in
an
archive
aren’t
convinced
they
should
share
data

7. 2
tables
Random
notes
From
Stephanie
Hampton
(2010)
ESA
Workshop
on
Best
Practices

8. Wash
Cres
Lake
Dec
15
Dont_Use.xls
From
Stephanie
Hampton
(2010)
ESA
Workshop
on
Best
Practices

9. Collaboration
and
Data
Sharing
9

10. What
is
this?

11. The
path
of
research
products
www
www.collectionco
noaa.gov
nnection.alcts.ala.
org
www.Tlickr.com/
photos/csessums
Data
blog.disorder2order.com
Metadata
blog.seattlepi.com
Recreated
from
Klump
et
al.
2006

12. Data
Reuse
Data
Sharing
Data
Management

13. The
path
of
research
products
www
www.collectionco
noaa.gov
nnection.alcts.ala.
org
Data
www
Metadata
digital-­
servers.com
Recreated
from
Klump
et
al.
2006

14. Barriers
Cost
ttatteredntornprims.blogspot.com/
Time
cultblender.wordpress.com
Software,
Personnel
hardware

15. Barriers
Cost:
time,
personnel,
software,
hardware
free-­photos.biz
Culture
of
Science
• Not
the
norm
• Lack
of
training
• Disparate
data

16. Barriers
Cost:
time,
personnel,
software,
hardware
Culture
of
Science
Loss
of
rights
or
bene:its
wattsupwiththat.com
colouringbook.org
Misuse
of
data
Missed
opportunities
ConZlict

17. Barriers
Cost:
time,
personnel,
software,
hardware
Culture
of
Science
Loss
of
rights
or
bene:its
Lack
of
incentives
Time
consuming
&
expensive
Reward
structure
Few
requirements
georgevanantwerp.com

18. Roadmap
4. How
to
get
involved
in
DCXL
3. Progress
&
future
plans
2. DCXL
project
overview
1. An
overview:
why
is
DCXL
needed?

19. DCXL
Project
Goals
“A
transformation
in
the
conduct
of
a
segment
of
scientiTic
research
by
enabling
and
promoting
publishing,
sharing,
and
archiving
of
tabular
data”
• Increase
interoperability
=
Sharing
publishability
=
Publishing
archivability
=
Archiving
• Focus
on
atmospheric,
ecological,
hydrological,
and
oceanographic
data

20. DCXL
Project
Goals
Open
Source
&
Free
Excel
Add-­in
Software
program
that
extends
the
capabilities
of
larger
programs
Complements
basic
Excel
functionality
From
www.webopedia.com
www.ablebits.com

21. DCXL
Add-­in
Goals
Easier
Archiving
Sharing
Harder
Publishing

22. DCXL
Project
Deliverables
• Excel
add-­‐in
• Publicly
available
source
code
• Technical
documentation
• End
user
documentation
• Publicly
available
requirements
• Community
storageplusgulfport.com

23. DCXL
Project
Outcomes
 Enable
citation
&
allow
credit
 Enable
policy
enactment
 Enable
re-­‐use
by
eliminating
barriers
 Save
time
for
researcher

Encourage
creation
of
extensions

24. Process
Assess
needs
• Quantitative
– Surveys

25. Process
Assess
needs
• Quantitative
– Surveys
– Quick
poll

26. Process
Assess
needs
• Quantitative
?
– Surveys
– Quick
poll
• Qualitative
– Interviews

27. Process
Assess
needs
Gather
requirements
Recruitment
tools
DCXL/data
management
seminars
Listservs
&
email
Blog,
Facebook,
Twitter
Face-­‐to-­‐face
interactions
Flyers

28. Process
Assess
needs
Gather
requirements
Locations
Conferences
UC
campus
visits
Remote/web-­‐based

29. Process
Assess
needs
Gather
requirements
Stakeholders
&
contributors
Libraries
Scientists
Repositories
Experts:
MSR,
GBMF
Personnel
on
related
projects

30. Process
Social
media,
emails,
Social
media,
campus
visits
emails
CDL
Email
Data
Libraries
Seminars
Flyers
Centers
Social
media
Scientists
Quick
poll
Survey
Interview
Related
Funders
projects
Requirements

31. Implementation
Assess
needs
Gather
requirements
Build
requirements
document

32. Implementation
Assess
needs
Gather
requirements
Build
requirements
document
Build
community
Libraries
Scientists
Repositories
Programmers/
Developers

33. Timeline
26 Sept DCXL Kickoff Meeting
7 Oct Finalize Requirements Gathering Framework
9 Nov 1st draft of Requirements to MSR
30 Nov 2nd draft of Requirements to MSR
5-9 Dec AGU Meeting, San Francisco
15 Dec Final Requirements to MSR
2012
16 Jan Receive Excel Add-in Version 1
23 Jan Rollout Excel Add-in Version 1
16-19 Feb AAAS meeting: Add-in user testing
20-24 Feb Ocean Sciences meeting: Add-in user testing
26 Feb 1st Draft of updated Requirements based on Version 1 to MSR
2 Apr Deliver updated Requirements based on Version 1 to MSR
28 May Receive Excel Add-in Version 2
29 May- 24 Jun User testing of Version 2
25 Jun Rollout Excel Add-in Version 2
7-10 July CSEE meeting: Add-in debut & demo
13 July Final code, technical documentation, and requirements published
31 July End user documentation published

34. Roadmap
4. How
to
get
involved
in
DCXL
3. Progress
&
future
plans
2. DCXL
project
overview
1. An
overview:
why
is
DCXL
needed?

35. Ecological
Society
of
America
Summer
2011
Meeting

36. ESA
Overview
• Everyone
uses
Excel
– Most
use
Excel
for
organizing
raw
data
– Most
import
spreadsheets
into
other
programs
for
analysis
– ~75%
are
embarrassed
about
using
Excel
• Excitement
about
open
source
• Minimal
knowledge
about
data
management,
organization,
and
archiving
• 55
surveys
from
diverse
group

37. Operating
System
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Mac
PC
Linux

38. Use
Excel
for...
Sharing
Other
Analyses
Statistics
Visualization
Organization
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
#
Respondents
(out
of
55)

39. How
often
do
you
use
Excel?
30
25
#
repsondents
20
15
10
5
0
Never
Rarely
Every
Every
day
day

40. What
features
are
used
in
Excel?
Comments
Cell
shading
Macros
Embedded
formulas
Headers
Pivot
Tables
Multiple
Tabs
Multiple
Tables
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Percent

41. Ray
Troll
(trollart.com)
American
Fisheries
Society
Summer
2011
Meeting

42. AFS
Overview
• Everyone
uses
Excel
• Most
use
it
only
for
data
organization
and
sharing
• 36
surveys
from
diverse
group
• Heavy
MS
Access
use
• 100%
PC

43. How
often
do
you
use
Excel?
18
16
14
12
#
respondents
10
8
6
4
2
0
Rarely
Every
day

44. Tasks
performed
in
Excel?
Sharing
data
Simple
Calculations
Statistics
Visualizing
data
Organizing
data
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
respondents
(n
=
36)

45. What
should
the
add-­in
help
you
do?
60
50
%
Respondents
40
30
20
10
0
Organize
my
Organize
my
Archive
my
Create
Share
my
data
No
opinion
data
for
my
data
for
others
data
metadata
publicly
own
use
to
use
more
easily

46. AFS
Overview
• Everyone
uses
Excel
• Most
use
it
only
for
data
organization
and
sharing
• 36
surveys
from
diverse
group
• Heavy
MS
Access
use
• 100%
PC
• Data
hoarders
Myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com

47. Roadmap
4. How
to
get
involved
in
DCXL
3. Progress
&
future
plans
2. DCXL
project
overview
1. An
overview:
why
is
DCXL
needed?

48. Get
Involved
dcxl.cdlib.org
Now:
General
info
Blog
Forum
Calendar
Later:
Requirements
Documentation

49. Get
Involved
@dcxlCDL
www.facebook.com/
DCXLatCDL

50. Acknowledgements
• CDL:
Rachael
Hu,
Trisha
Cruse,
John
Kunze,
Tracy
Seneca
• MSR:
Lee
Dirks
• GBMF:
Chris
Mentzel
Carly
Strasser
carly.strasser@ucop.edu