Title: "The Urgent Need for a Lasting and Simple Repository of Digital Files"
Speaker: Santiago Pujol, Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University

Place: BEERING 2280
Date: April 12, 2016; Tuesday
Time: 4:30pm

Abstract:
In our environment today, the preferred format for publication of research products is the refereed publication. Yet, only a fraction of the information that is collected to produce that publication appears in it. A larger fraction is documented in reports or theses. But much more data often remain "undiscoverable" on magnetic media, hard drives, servers, and online storages. And the format of the data that makes it to the public (e.g. prints or "pdfs" of charts) is not always the best choice for someone willing to study or use the published data.

Believe it or not, humans have been struggling with this issue for thousands of years. But today we have the means to create a library of digital content that can help us not only preserve our digital files (so that new ideas can be tested with the same data later) but also keep these files from becoming cryptic information that no one else can find and interpret. The first institution to provide such a solution will attract the attention of many. Purdue has an opportunity to become that institution if we join our capabilities and ideas in a common thrust today.


Click here www.stat.purdue.edu/~doerge/BIOINFORM.D/SPRING16/sem.html for a full schedule of BIOINFORMATICS SEMINARS, past and present.