Overcoming inadequate documentation

Secondary data users need three types of knowledge to analyze secondary data: knowledge about data, background knowledge necessary to understand and interpret data, and data analysis skills. Part of knowledge about data is provided by the documentation of data. Background knowledge and data analysis skills are internalized as users' absorptive capacity. When documentation and their absorptive capacity are inadequate, users need to seek outside information to use secondary data. In this paper, causes of inadequate documentation were analyzed, why and how secondary users seek outside information were reported. Then based on the findings, implications about how to facilitate secondary data use were discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78325/1/145046024_ftp.pd

Documentation evaluation model for social science data

Information technology and data sharing policies have made more and more social science data available for secondary analysis. In secondary data analysis, documentation plays a critical role in transferring knowledge about data from data producers to secondary users. Despite its importance, documentation of social science data has rarely been the focus of existing studies. In this paper, based on an introduction of the concept of documentation and its role in secondary data analysis, the authors proposed the Documentation Evaluation Model(DEM) for social science data. In the model, two indicators are used to evaluate the documentation for social science data: sufficiency and ease-of-use. Then the authors review the sufficiency problems of documentation, identify three factors that affect the sufficiency of documentation: users, data, and the ease-of-use of documentation, and formulate hypotheses about how those factors affect the sufficiency of documentation. In future research, a survey instrument will be created based on the model and the factors affecting the sufficiency of documentation. The survey instrument will then be applied to the secondary users of social science data. Hypotheses will be tested based on the survey data.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63090/1/1450450223_ftp.pd

Bots, Seeds and People: Web Archives as Infrastructure

The field of web archiving provides a unique mix of human and automated agents collaborating to achieve the preservation of the web. Centuries old theories of archival appraisal are being transplanted into the sociotechnical environment of the World Wide Web with varying degrees of success. The work of the archivist and bots in contact with the material of the web present a distinctive and understudied CSCW shaped problem. To investigate this space we conducted semi-structured interviews with archivists and technologists who were directly involved in the selection of content from the web for archives. These semi-structured interviews identified thematic areas that inform the appraisal process in web archives, some of which are encoded in heuristics and algorithms. Making the infrastructure of web archives legible to the archivist, the automated agents and the future researcher is presented as a challenge to the CSCW and archival community

μ3-Iodo-tri-μ3-sulfido-sulfidotris[tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine-κP]tri­copper(I)tungsten(VI) N,N-dimethyl­formide solvate

A new W/S/Cu cluster, [Cu3WIS4(C21H21O3P)3]·C3H7NO, was formed by the reaction of ammonium tetra­thio­tungstate(VI), cuprous iodide and tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine in N,N-dimethyl­formamide. The title compound exhibits a heavily distorted cubane-like skeleton in which the average Cu—I, Cu—S and W—μ3-S distances are 2.934, 2.302 and 2.249 Å, respectively. The W atom exhibits tetrahedral geometry, formed by three μ3-S and one terminal S atom; the W—S(terminal) bond length is 2.1426 (13) Å. Each Cu atom is coordinated by one P atom from a tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine (mop), two μ3-S and one μ3-I atom, forming a distorted tetra­hedral coordination geometry. Some of the mop ligand methyl groups have large librations. Together with the three neutral mop ligands, the title compound is neutral; this contrasts with the all-halogen-coordinated Mo/S/Ag clusters with the same structure, which carry negative charge

catena-Poly[[tetra­kis­(hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide-κO)bis­(nitrato-κ2 O,O′)yttrium(III)] [silver(I)-di-μ-sulfido-molybdenum(VI)-di-μ-sulfido]]

In the cation of the title compound, {[Y(NO3)2(C6H18N3OP)4][AgMoS4]}n, the Y atom is coordinated by eight O atoms from two chelating nitrate groups and four hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide (hmp) ligands, which gives rise to a distorted square-anti­prismatic environment. Together with the two nitrate ligands, the overall charge for the complex cation is +1, which leads to the anionic chain having a monovalent repeat unit. The polymeric anionic chain, with Mo—Ag—Mo and Ag—Mo—Ag angles of 161.916 (13) and 153.915 (13)°, respectively, presents a distorted linear configuration. The cations and the anions are linked via weak C—H⋯S hydrogen-bonding inter­actions while the cations exhibit inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions. The structure is isotypic with the corresponding W, Yb, Eu, Nd, La and Dy complexes

catena-Poly[[tetra­kis­(hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide-κO)bis­(nitrato-κ2 O,O′)terbium(III)] [silver(I)-di-μ-sulfido-tungstate(VI)-di-μ-sulfido]]

In the title compound, {[Tb(NO3)2(C6H18N3OP)4][AgWS4]}n, the polymeric anionic chain {[AgWS4]−}n extends along [001]. The TbIII atom in the cation is coordinated by eight O atoms from two nitrate and four hexamethylphosphate ligands in a distorted square-anti­prismatic geometry. Together with the two nitrate ligands, the cation is univalent, which leads to the anionic chain having a [WS4Ag] repeat unit. The polymeric anionic chain has a distorted linear configuration with W—Ag—W and Ag—W—Ag angles of 161.49 (2) and 153.743 (13) °, respectively. The title complex is isotypic with the Y, Yb, Eu, Nd, La, Dy, Sm and Lu analogues

catena-Poly[[tetra­kis(hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide-κO)bis­(nitrato-κ2 O,O′)lanthanum(III)] [silver(I)-di-μ2-sulfido-tungstate(VI)-di-μ2-sulfido]]

Hexamethyl­phospho­ramide (hmp), tetra­thio­tungstate(VI), silver sulfide and lanthanum(III) nitrate are self-assembled to form discrete cations one-dimensional poylmeric anionic chains [AgWS4]nn − in the title compound, {[La(NO3)2(C6H18N3OP)4][AgWS4]}n. The central La atom in the cation is coordinated by eight O atoms from two nitrate and four hmp ligands. Together with the two nitrate ligands, the cation is monovalent, which leads to the anionic chain having a monovalent repeat unit. The polymeric anionic chain with W⋯Ag⋯W and Ag⋯W⋯Ag angles of 165.94 (3) and 155.894 (14)° presents a distorted linear configuration. Five N atoms, 18 C atoms and their attached H atoms are disordered equally over two positions

catena-Poly[[tetra­kis­(hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide-κO)bis­(nitrato-κ2 O,O′)dysprosium(III)] [silver(I)-di-μ-sulfido-tungstate(VI)-di-μ-sulfido]]

Hexa­methyl­phospho­ramide (hmp), tetra­thio­tungstate, silver sulfide and dysprosium nitrate were self-assembled, forming an anionic [AgWS4]nn − chain in the title compound, {[Dy(NO3)2(C6H18N3OP)4][AgWS4]}n. The central Dy atom in the cation is coordinated by eight O atoms from two didentate nitrate and four hmp ligands, giving rise to a distorted square anti­prismatic structure. Together with the two nitrate ligands, the cation is univalent, which leads to the anionic chain having a [WS4Ag] repeat unit. The polymeric anionic chain, with W—Ag—W and Ag—W—Ag angles 161.16 (2) and 153.606 (11)°, respectively, presents a distorted linear configuration. The title compound is isotypic with other rare earth complexes

The Impact of Documentation on Secondary Data Use

Organizing, managing information, and providing information services to users have been long traditions in information schools. Numerous researches have been done on the organization and use of books, journals, images, even audio and video resources. Social science raw data, on which many publications and scientific findings are based, are important information resources. But they have received inadequate attention from information schools in the past. This is partly because the secondary use of raw data was not a common practice in many academic fields. Facilitating data sharing has been a growing concern in recent years. In the United States, a law has been passed by the Congress to mandate the Office of Management and Budget to amend Circular A-110 to extend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to "require Federal awarding agencies to ensure that all data produced under an award will be made available to the public under the FOIA??? (http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/fedreg/a-110rev.html). More and more funding agencies require grantees to share their research data to the public. We can expect that in the near future, more and more social science raw data will be available for public access and use. Thus, there needs to be more research about the organization, management and use of social science data. Secondary data use is defined this way: a user uses a data set, and the user is not involved in the production process of that data set. Three basic entities are involved in secondary data use: the data producers, data users, the data itself and associated documentation. Sometimes there is an intermediary between data producers and users. Intermediaries, such as data archives or data libraries, process the data to improve the quality of data and documentations, and disseminate data to users. Documentation is metadata of social science data. Similar to MARC records that help users to search and judge the relevance of books and journals, Dublin Core records help users to search and determine the relevance of Web resources. Documentation provides information necessary to search and judge the relevance of data, more importantly, they help users understand and use the data. The Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) identifies the following as necessary elements of good documentations: cataloging information, such as title, principal investigator, data producer, place and date of production, funding agency; description of how the data were collected and the data sources used; full description of sampling design, frame, and methods as well as sampling error; full variable and value labels, full details of all coding classifications; question text, full description of recoded and derived variables, frequencies of variables, fully documented weights with information on conditions under which they should be used; and details on file types and linkages among files. If available, data collection instruments and related bibliographies should also be provided

Building a National or International China Bibliographic Utility

Today, Chinese libraries are in urgent need of a national bibliographic utility resembling the OCLC union catalog for cooperative cataloging and resource sharing. Three options are presently available for Chinese libraries: purchasing bibliographic records from the National Library of China (NLC), joining the China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) Union Cataloguing Center, and contributing records to OCLC WorldCat. This paper analyzes the problems associated with each option. To implement the third option, Chinese catalogers will have to meet the three requirements set forth by OCLC: adding Pinyin, DDC (Dewey decimal classification) or LCC (Library of Congress classification), and LCSH (Library of Congress subject headings) or MeSH (National Library of Medicine subject headings) data to each contributed record. Impact and implementation are also discussed