Data management, analysis and visualisation (DMAV) are becoming increasingly important informatics considerations in facilitating new discoveries as researchers acquire ever larger amounts of multi-dimensional data using one or more instrument platforms.
The DMAV group can assist you with the development of a data management plan and provide advice in relation to the analysis and visualisation of your data.
Data management
CMCA policy is that users are responsible for storage and back up of their data. This is consistent with UWA's Research Data Management Toolkit.
Storage/transfer options — CMCA recommend the following:
| Option | Description | Access |
|---|---|---|
File sender + cloud storage | A web interface to two services:
| For a user whose institution is a participant in the Australian Access Federation (AAF) which includes UWA, logon is via your institutional credentials. For other users the service can be accessed through vouchers submitted by users who are members of the AAF. |
| UWA Institutional Research Data Store (IRDS) | A centralised, secure and UWA-supported data storage; enables ongoing access at no cost to UWA researchers; supported by a dedicated high speed fibre optic connection that ensures reliable high-performance bandwidth; includes backup and recovery capability. | Sign on using UWA Pheme credentials. |
| CMCA instrument data share | This is a network drive mounted on a number of instrument PCs and CMCA workstation. | You can transfer your data to this share and then use a CMCA workstation to transfer the data to your own USB storage device. This share is to be used for transfer purposes only. It is not a storage solution. |
Research data management plan — UWA has developed a Data Management Plan for data in digital format. It includes a checklist for researchers covering issues in relation to data ownership, collection, organisation, storage, backup, retention, disposal and access. For further information see the Research Data Management Toolkit and note therein that:
It is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure that their research data is regularly backed-up and stored securely for the life of the project and throughout the minimum retention period.
Data management systems — Automation of the research data lifecycle is increasingly becoming more important as data sizes and collections increase. CMCA is presently rolling out the MyTardis platform for managing the data and associated meta-data acquired using CMCA instruments.
Data analysis and visualisation
Proprietary software — Instrument specific reconstruction, analysis and visualisation software are typically available on both the instrument PC and one or more CMCA workstations.
Public domain software — Numerous free software tools are available for processing, analysing and visualising your data.
eResearch technologies — The National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) Project provides a National Research Cloud to foster and facilitate research collaboration and outcomes. The Characterisation Virtual Laboratory (CVL) is of particular relevance to CMCA users. It is "a remote desktop environment, run on the NeCTAR cloud, which provides access to a range of tools to process atom probe, neuroimaging, structural biology, X-ray, and general imaging data".
Pawsey Supercomputing Centre — The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre provides facilities and expertise in supercomputing, large-scale data storage and visualisation in Western Australia. The UWA node of the centre is located in the same building as CMCA@Physics. The centre is itself one of eight national nodes supporting the NeCTAR cloud.