Definition: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re-use.
Data curation involves the continuous enrichment, management, maintenance and updating data to ensure it remains fit for purpose throughout the research lifecycle and beyond. Remember that data can be quantitative or qualitative. Examples of tasks that may be described by the role of data curation include:
- Conducting tasks like data processing, cleaning, cataloging, annotating, archiving modeling, and retention.
- Integrating and aggregating data in diverse formats and from diverse sources.
- Managing and updating data descriptions and metadata, including maintaining version control and associated documentation.
- Developing or implementing data preservation strategies to ensure data remains findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.