The DPC, UK Data Service and Charles Beagrie Ltd are delighted to offer members a preview of the latest DPC Technology Watch Report ‘Preserving Transactional Data’ by Sara Day Thomson of the Digital Preservation Coalition. This report tackles the requirements for preserving transactional data and the accompanying challenges facing companies and institutions that aim to re-use these data for analysis or research, presenting the issues and strategies which emphasize preservation practices that facilitate re-use and reproducibility.
This newest addition to the popular Technology Watch Series was commissioned by the UK Data Service with sponsorship from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Big Data Network Support initiative https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/about-us/our-rd/big-data-network-support
‘The scale and velocity of data is pushing current methods and tools for preserving databases to their limits.’ explains author Sara Day Thomson. ‘These data – from government data to environmental data – possess significant characteristics that require much wider approaches to preservation.’
The report identifies a number of these approaches which consider an emergence of new uses for archived forms of these data. Through a range of use cases – examples of transactional data – the report describes the characteristics and difficulties of these ‘big’ data for long-term access.
Neil Beagrie, editor of the Technology Watch Report series on behalf of the DPC, added that the paper ‘looks at overarching trends to demonstrate potential solutions for maintaining these data in a secure environment based on end user needs and regulatory frameworks. It should be of huge interest to DPC members, and particularly those working within the business community under regulatory constraints.’
The report is currently available as a preview to DPC members and project partners. It will be released to the public on 10th June.
DPC members can access the report here: ‘Preserving Transactional Data' (login required)
Partners within the ESRC’s Big Data Network who are not DPC members can access the report by request to info [at] dpconline [dot] org