Canadian government departments fall under the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) Directive on Recordkeeping, as well as a number of other policies of Library and Archives Canada (LAC). At present, the exact interpretation of some of these policies is in flux with regard to its application to science data generated by Canadian government departments (i.e. Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Agriculture Canada, etc). In this vacuum – and to assist science data management planning – an exploratory visualization using Venn diagrams was developed in cooperation with a part of one government department (Canadian Forestry Service (CFS), Natural Resources Canada) to help understand the relationship between the DoR and science data management, disposition and archiving. The goals of this exercise are threefold: 1. to understand the relationship between science data and the TBS/LAC’s introduced concept resources of business value[2] 2. to identify resources whose long–term preservation responsibility will remain with the producing department 3. (of slightly less importance) to understand the relationship between a number of major classes of data/records.

1. Using data class visualization to inform recordkeeping and
scientific data preservation planning in a Canadian federal
government context
Glen Newton
Dumontier Lab, Biology Dept, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
newtong@acm.org
Abstract 2. . . . With added example data types Digital
Canadian government departments fall under the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) Class Information (Figure 2):
Directive on Recordkeeping[1, 3] (DoR), as well as a number of other policies of Library • Artifacts, samples, & specimens are physical resources, some of which will be sent to
and Archives Canada (LAC). At present, the exact interpretation of some of these policies LAC Business value
is in flux with regard to its application to science data generated by Canadian government • Some artifacts, samples, & specimens are science resources, some of which will be
departments (i.e. Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Agriculture Canada, sent to LAC
etc). In this vacuum – and to assist science data management planning – an exploratory • Documents, still & moving images are both physical and digital
visualization using Venn diagrams was developed in cooperation with a part of one govern- • Some documents, still & moving images will be born digital Born digital
Science
ment department (Canadian Forestry Service (CFS), Natural Resources Canada) to help • Some documents, still & moving images are of business value, some of which will be Huge Data
understand the relationship between the DoR and science data management, disposition sent to LAC
and archiving. • Some documents, still & moving images are of science resources, some of which will
The goals of this exercise are threefold: 1. to understand the relationship between science be sent to LAC
data and the TBS/LAC’s introduced concept resources of business value[2] 2. to identify Institutional Repositories Archival
/
• Huge data is extremely large volume data, and is of business value Documents, still
resources whose long–term preservation responsibility will remain with the producing • Huge data is mostly science resources Data Centres [Library and
& moving images Archives
department 3. (of slightly less importance) to understand the relationship between a • Huge data will never be sent to LAC (responsibility resides with the producing agency)
number of major classes of data/records Canada]
Digital
1. Department Science Data in Context
Artifacts,
Business value samples, &
specimens
Digital
Science Born digital
Business value Huge Data
Archival Physical
Documents, still [Library and
Science Born digital
& moving images Archives
Canada] Figure 3: Departmental responsibilities
Archival
[Library and 4. Conclusion
Archives Artifacts,
Canada] samples, & Feedback from CFS staff involved with recordkeeping and science data preservation
specimens indicate that both the process of developing the visualization and describing the class
properties of the various data types, and the final visualization depicting the likely
responsibilities of the Service, led to a more meaningful understanding of the planning
processes involved in the two overlapping activities of mandated recordkeeping and
scientific data preservation. The visualization allowed for the understanding of the
relationship between science data and the organizations that might be responsible for
preserving it[4]. The visualization has also become a kind of visual framework against
which questions concerning preservation can be explored. It is against this framework
Physical and other activities at CFS that a deeper inquiry into the culture of scientific
recordkeeping should be applied[5].
Figure 2: Example data types 5. Acknowledgements
Physical Linda Bown, CFS/NRCan; Simon Bridge, CFS/NRCan; Peter Cowan, CFS/NRCan;
Joanne Frappier, CFS/NRCan; Michel Parent, CFS/NRCan; Kimberley Stathers,
3. Likely Departmental Preservation Responsibilities (Science plus . . . ) CFS/NRCan.
Figure 1: The relationship between different classes of digital and physical resources
Information resources not sent to LAC that are active (or temporarily inactive) and to be References
used/stored over the long term need to be managed by the owning organization. This
management can include institutional repositories and data centres (IRDC), along with a [1] Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. 2009. Directive on Recordkeeping
Class information (Figure 1): certain amount of process. http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?section=text&id=16552
• There are physical and digital information resources Figure 3 shows this information graphically. [2] Library and Archives Canada. Guidelines for Identifying the Business Value of Infor-
• There are resources of ’business value’; some are digital, some are physical mation Resources. 2009. http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/government/news-events/007001-
Class information (Figure 3):
• Science resources are all of business value; some are digital, some are physical 2120.01-e.html
• IRDC include many resources of business value
• Some resources of business value will be archived by LAC; Some science resources [3] P.Desrochers, S.Smith. 2009. Recordkeeping Directive 101: Everything you wanted to
• IRDC include most science resources
will be archived by LAC know, but were too afraid to ask http://www.slideshare.net/pdesrochers/recordkeeping-
• IRDC does not include all huge data
• Some (most going forward) science resources and resources of business value will be directive-101-everything-you-wanted-to-know-but-were-tooafraid-to-ask
• IRDC include both digital and physical resources, some documents, still & moving
born digital
images and some artifacts, samples, & specimens. [4] A.Schreier,K.Wilson, D.Resnik. 2006. Academic Research Record-Keeping: Best Prac-
tices for Individuals, Group Leaders, and Institutions. Academic Medicine 81:1:42-47.
[5] K.Shankar. 2007. Order from chaos: The poetics and pragmatics of scientific record-
keeping. JASIST 58:10:1457–1466.
RDAP 2011, The 2nd Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP) Summit, March 31-April 1, 2011, Denver, Colorado