Home
Share |

Content about preservation

March 11, 2015
‘Synthetic fossils’ could make it possible to store data on DNA for millions of years

Researchers in Switzerland have taken inspiration from fossils to discover how DNA could be used to reliably store data for over two million years. They stored 83 kilobytes of data — containing the text from the Swiss Federal Charter of 1291 and the English translation of the Method of Archimedes — on DNA, which was subsequently encapsulated in silica to mimic the protective shell provided by fossilized bone. 

November 26, 2014
EUDAT: Smart solutions to manage the rising tide of scientific data

Video courtesy EUDAT.

EUDAT is facilitating efficient research by contributing towards a collaborative data infrastructure in Europe. Its vision is to enable European researchers and practitioners from any research discipline to preserve, find, access, and process data in a trusted environment.

July 2, 2014
Building an E-ARK for the archival data deluge

National archives play a vital role in safeguarding information and enabling access to it. However, the exact approaches taken to achieve these goals vary widely across Europe. As such, there is a critical need for an overarching methodology for archiving data that can become the gold standard throughout the continent. The E-ARK project was launched earlier this year to develop such a methodology. 

April 9, 2014
A deluge of data in Dublin

With global data output growing rapidly, it is vital that researchers come together to build the social and technical bridges required to enable open sharing of research data. The organization charged with achieving this is the Research Data Alliance (RDA), which recently celebrated its first anniversary.

Last month, the RDA held a plenary meeting in Dublin, Ireland. The 497 attendees at the event engaged in discussion on a wide variety of topics, ranging from the role of publishers and persistent identifiers to heritage data and legal interoperability. Data applications discussed also included geospatial information, marine observation, food production, and urban quality of life indicators.