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Pack of Web Observatories

Ian C. Brown WAIS Group, School of Electronics & Computer Science
We create much more data than we can hope to process The data is an unregulated stream of self-published things For research we need a web of data vs. a web of documents There is li=le help for researchers to see how data is connected Repea?ng experiments and re-using data can be dicult / tedious There are few opportuni?es to share techniques / tools We are therefore constantly re-inven?ng the wheel

Problem: The Data Deluge

Many observatories are springing up globally to gather data on par?cular topics they oFen use dierent systems and formats We cannot download the web and treat it like a single database Hence the interopera)on of these systems and their data is vital Discovering the loca?on/format of data we are interested in is key Models to share research, data, tools and commentary are needed Ways of combining/licensing private and open data are needed

One Web Observatory?

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Google and others blast the researcher with millions of results most of which are irrelevant human brain does the hard work Keywords do li=le to iden?fy the research topic accurately Searches focus on the web of documents and not the web of data Searches tend not look across history or related/correlated subjects Search engines try to op?mise the user experience by favouring previously selected results and can tend to hide new results !!

Search is not the answer

Each telescope (datascope) gathers data about one/more topics Extra useful info about the data (metadata) is created Thoughts about the data may be added and extra items linked to it Catalogues of what is on oer is published for others to read The metadata allows us to determine formats, licenses, date ranges etc. so we can nd relevant research data sets quickly We can now combine dierent data sets over ?me, search for correla?ons and even model future outcomes. Analy?cs and tools help visualise the meaning of the data

Many Telescopes

Our research data needs ..

Project W.O.L.F.
The Web Observatories Linkage Framework will dene: Taxonomies of Observatories (func?ons/features) Interoperability requirements Legal/Opera?onal models for sharing / re-use Trust/Provenance models that will underpin quality Use cases for Observatories to be friendly / share VS.

Challenges/Outcomes

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CO-OPERATION IS KEY: A WOLF IS SMARTER AND MORE SUCESSFUL IN A PACK