Best practices for preparing and documenting data

Here are some resources to use in creating and preparing data in a variety of formats and for a variety of disciplines. The call number are for items in the UCLA libraries.

Digital Preparation, Curation and Best Practices Resources
Prepared by Libbie Stephenson, Dir. Social Science Data Archives
(libbie@ucla.edu) http://dataarchives.ss.ucla.edu/

‘Archeology’

Bewley, R. (1999). Archiving aerial photography and remote sensing data. Oxford: Oxbow Books for the Arts and Humanities Data Service.
SRLF Call Number: CC80.4 .A745 1999

Details: Guide to digital preservation of aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and archaeological interpretations derived from these sources.

Schmidt, A. (2001). Geophysical data in archaeology: A guide to good practice. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford [England]: Oxbow Books. YRL Call Number: CC79.P5 S3 2001

Details: Guide to Good Practice in collecting, documenting, and preserving raw geophysical data and images and interpretations drawn from this data.

Eiteljorg, H. (2003). CAD— a guide to good practice. Oxford: Published by Oxbow Books for the Arts and Humanities Data Service.
SRLF Call Number: AZ186 .C33 2003

Details: A Guide to Good Practice in collecting, documenting, preserving, and using Computer Aided Design datasets and images.

Richards, J. C., & Robinson, D. (2000). Digital archives from excavation and fieldwork: A guide to good practice. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford: Oxbow.
YRL Call Number: CC80.4 .D54 2000
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/goodguides/excavation/

Details: Guide to digital archiving of records produced in the course of assessment, excavation, and post-excavation phases of archaeological projects.

Gillings, M., & Wise, A. (1990). GIS guide to good practice. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford, Eng: Oxbow Books.

Details: A guide to good practice in documenting and archiving datasets (both spatial and attribute) from Geographic Information Systems.

‘History’

Townsend, S., Chappell, C., & Struijvé, O. (1999). Digitising history A guide to creating digital resources from historical documents. [London, England]: Arts and Humanities Data Service. http://hds.essex.ac.uk/g2gp/digitising_history/index.asp.

Details: This guide is intended as a reference work for individuals and organisations involved with, or planning, the computerisation of historical source documents.

Gregory, I. (2003). A place in history: A guide to using GIS in historical research. Oxford: Oxbow.
YRL Call Number: D16.12 .G745 2003
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/history/creating/guides/gis/index.html

Details: This guide is intended for historians who want to use Geographical Information Systems (GIS). It describes how to create GIS databases and how to use GIS to perform historical research.

‘Performing Arts’

Goodman, L., Milton, K., Weldon, R., & Hamza, K. (2005). A guide to good practice in collaborative working methods and new media tools creation: (by and for artists and the cultural sector). Office for Humanities Communication publication, no. 18. London: Office for Humanities Communication.
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/creating/guides/new-media-tools/index.htm

Details: This Guide offers new perspectives on the role of new technologies in creative and collaborative practice in performance and is one of a series of titles commissioned and edited by AHDS Performing Arts at the University of Glasgow.

Smith, B. (2002). Creating digital performance resources: A guide to good practice. Guide to good practice. Oxford: Oxbow.
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/creating/guides/performing-resources/contents.htm

Details: This Guide covers various issues in related to digital resources in the performance arts. It examines the construction of web-based databases, digital archives, e-journals and teaching applications, all in the context of performing arts datasets. There is also a section on the use of electronic resources in the actual practice of performing arts.

Fells, N., Donachy, P., Owen, C., & Iles, K. (2002). Creating digital audio resources: A guide to good practice. Oxford: Oxbow.
SRLF Call Number: TK7881.65 .F45 2002
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/creating/guides/audio-resources/GGP_Audio_Contents.htm

Details: This Guide aims to provide information and more specific technical guidance for those considering small or medium-scale audio digitisation projects. The guide is aimed at a non-technical audience and will be of interest to holders of analogue collections considering digitisation, managers who need enough information to plan resources for a digitisation project and those experimenting with or piloting digitisation on a small scale for research, teaching, promotion or creative projects.

Frost, H., ed. (2008) Audio Preservation.
http://cool.conservation-us.org/bytopic/audio/
Details: The section on Standards, Guidelines and Best Practices contains links to a variety of resources, articles, and organizations.

The Collaborative Digitization Program. Digital Audio Working Group. (2006) Digital Audio Best Practices. Ver 2.1
http://www.bcr.org/dps/cdp/best/digital-audio-bp.pdf

Casey, M. & Gordon, B. (2007) Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sounddirections/papersPresent/sd_bp_07.pdf

‘Literature, Language and Linguistics’

Morrison, A. S., Popham, M., & Wikander, K. (2000). Creating and documenting electronic texts. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford [England]: Oxbow Books for the Arts and Humanities Data Service.
YRL Call Number: Z699 .M677 2000

Details: This Guide outlines various approaches to creating electronic texts, their advantages and disadvantages, and includes the recommendations of the AHDS. Particular emphasis is placed upon the importance of documenting the process of text creation in order to provide bibliographic information appropriate to the needs of teachers and researchers.

‘Visual Arts’

Fernie, K., & Richards, J. D. (2003). Creating and using virtual reality: A guide for the arts and humanities. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford: Oxbow.
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/guides/vr_guide/index.html

Details: This Guide to Good Practice concentrates on accessible desk-top virtual reality which may be distributed and viewed on-line via the World Wide Web. It is concerned with the variety of virtual reality models that may be produced and how to ensure that these can be delivered successfully to users and preserved for future reuse.

Grout, C. (2000). Creating digital resources for the visual arts: Standards and good practice. AHDS guides to good practice. Oxford: Oxbow.
YRL Call Number: ZA4084.A78 C74 2000
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/guides/creating_guide/contents.html

Details: This Guide both highlights examples of current practice in the creation of digital information in the visual arts domain, and makes recommendations for best practice in data creation, collection, description, delivery and preservation. It covers the use of domain specific resource description standards and the issues involved in the creation and use of resource discovery metadata for this domain. It also covers explicitly technical issues such as choice of data format and hardware and software platforms for a given resource.

Texas Commission on the Arts. Videotape Identification and Assessment Guide http://www.arts.state.tx.us/video/resources.asp

Details: Contains links to several organizations and resources on preserving video.

Knight, G. & McHugh, J. (2005) Moving Image Preservation Manual. UK: Arts and Humanities Data Service
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/da/Responsible%20Use/video-preservation-handbook.pdf

‘Survey data’:

ICPSR. (2009) Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving. Best Practices Throughout the Data Life Cycle, 4th ed. Ann Arbor, MI: ICPSR
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/access/dataprep.pdf

‘Digital Game’
Lowood, H. ed. (2008) Before It’s Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper
http://wiki.igda.org/Game_Preservation_SIG/White_Paper/Before_It%27s_Too_Late:_A_Digital_Game_Preservation_White_Paper

Details: Discusses the issues, and have included some suggestions on how to preserve games.