title: Virtualisation of Simple Scientific Data Objects
creators: Stephen Rankin Matt Dunckley Brian McIlwrath Steve Crothers David Giaretta
abstract: Capturing OAIS defined representation information in a standardised way is critical for the preservation and future reuse of scientific data. The structure of a scientific data object needs to be defined so that a future user can map the data bits to the actual scientific data. The semantics associated with the scientific data also needs to be defined so that the data can be understood and used by a user from the appropriate designated community. This presentation will show how simple scientific digital objects (tables, images etc.) can be described and "virtualised" by using representation information in the form of EAST file format descriptions (structure) and the corresponding DEDSL data dictionaries (semantics). It will also be shown that in some real life cases the EAST and DEDSL standards need to be extended so that they can fully describe the simple objects. Tools and APIs will be demonstrated that take the structure and semantic definitions for a simple scientific digital object and automatically read the data it contains and render it in the appropriate way.
keywords: ithaca