Deliverables
DINI Final Report
The aim was to explore the potential of data to drive research and its impact on policy. Our scope is National Infrastructure Systems within the UK with a focus on energy, water and transport. We reviewed the potential impacts of sharing infrastructure data for research, and the barriers which can get in the way. We also considered some key technologies needed to build a data cloud, and sponsored demonstrator use cases to illustrate the use of data in research practice. We have made sixteen recommendations which address these challenges and characterise research data cloud to coordinate and sustain the management of data so it can be shared with the academic sector while satisfying the concerns of data suppliers.
Read the full DINI report here (Download pdf)
Data Indexing Service
A large-scale data infrastructure like DINI will need an efficient and practical approach for Data Indexing. Due to the similarities in application and use cases, we have used the Data Indexing in DAFNI as a demonstrator of the service, identifying the strength and weaknesses of what is currently being used, as well as highlighting where the specific differences between DAFNI and DINI will need to be considered. The output was a guide for what the Data Indexing Service within DINI may be based upon and recommendations for the parts of it that may need deeper research.
Read the DAFNI Data Indexing Service Review Report (Download pdf)
Developing a specification for FAIR-enabled API for the Energy Data Centre
Machine accessibility to research data and the repositories they are held in is important for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data. The technical implementation of the Energy Data Centre’s repository started in 2004 and does not provide any machine access to the content for external users. The changes in requirements for repository usage, content discoverability and reuse, and the ability to implement the FAIR principles has led to the identification of a need to specify and then develop an API for the Energy Data Centre’s service focussed on research data. This output discusses the various aspects of FAIR, and trustworthiness required within a FAIR API.
Federating Research Infrastructures
Connecting DAFNI with other infrastructures is useful to support multidisciplinary research, particularly combined with climate modelling on JASMIN and data from the NERC data centres. “Federating” access makes it easier to combine resources from different infrastructures and will be necessary also in UKRI’s Distributed Research Infrastructure. This document discusses connecting DAFNI and JASMIN and our private cloud as a motivating example, but the principle of connecting resources across infrastructures is strategically important and applies widely.
Reviewing the Energy Semantic Artefacts Landscape
Being able to use common terminology helps in the discovery, use and reuse of objects in the energy sphere. The FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles specify the use of domain specific common terminology which can be referenced and accessed by machine. There are two purposes for this work: firstly to establish if there is a single semantic artefact that satisfies these criteria for the energy community and secondly to identify possible candidates that would improve the current classification schemes in use by the EDC.
Read the ‘Reviewing the Energy Semantic Artefacts Landscape’ document here (Download pdf)
