By mhayslett | February 27, 2017
Welcome to the second issue of Volume 40 of the IASSIST Quarterly (IQ 40:2, 2016). We present three papers in this issue.
https://iassistquarterly.com/index.php/iassist/issue/view/105
First, there are two papers on the Data Documentation Initiative that have their own special introduction. I want to express my respect and gratitude to Joachim Wackerow (GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences). Joachim (Achim) and Mary Vardigan (University of Michigan) have several times and for many years communicated to and advised the readers of the IASSIST Quarterly on the continuing development of the DDI. The metadata of data is central for the use and reuse of data, and we have come a long way through the efforts of many people.
The IASSIST 2016 conference in Bergen was a great success - I am told. I was not able to attend but heard that the conference again was ’the best ever’. I was also told that among the many interesting talks and inputs at the conference Matthew Woollard’s keynote speech on ‘Data Revolution’ was high on the list. Good to have well informed informers! Matthew Woollard is Director of the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex. Here in the IASSIST Quarterly we bring you a transcript of his talk. Woollard starts his talk on the data revolution with the possibility of bringing to users access to data, rather than bringing data to users. The data is in the ‘cloud’ - in the air - ‘Revolution in the air’ to quote a Nobel laureate. We are not yet in the post-revolutionary phase and many issues still need to be addressed. Woollard argues that several data skills are in demand, like an understanding of data management and of the many ethical issues. Although he is not enthusiastic about the term ‘Big Data’, Woollard naturally addresses the concept as these days we cannot talk about data
- and surely not about data revolution - without talking about Big Data. I fully support his view that we should proceed with caution, so that we are not simply replacing surveys where we ‘ask more from fewer’ with big data that give us ’less from more’. The revolution gives us new possibilities, and we will see more complex forms of research that will challenge data skills and demand solutions at data service institutions.
Papers for the IASSIST Quarterly are always very welcome. We welcome input from IASSIST conferences or other conferences and workshops, from local presentations or papers especially written for the IQ. When you are preparing a presentation, give a thought to turning your one-time presentation into a lasting contribution. We permit authors ‘deep links’ into the IQ as well as deposition of the paper in your local repository. Chairing a conference session with the purpose of aggregating and integrating papers for a special issue IQ is also much appreciated as the information reaches many more people than the session participants, and will be readily available on the IASSIST website at https://www.iassistdata.org.
Authors are very welcome to take a look at the instructions and layout: https://www.iassistquarterly.com/index.php/iassist/about/submissions.
Authors can also contact me via e-mail: kbr@sam.sdu.dk. Should you be interested in compiling a special issue for the IQ as guest editor(s) I will also be delighted to hear from you.
Karsten Boye Rasmussen Editor, IASSIST Quarterly