Peter Stevenson: Over 180 years of research data and its software
Channel: Society of Research Software Engineering
Date: 28/02/2024

A talk from the Working with Legacy session at RSECon23 at Swansea University, on 2023-09-07.

Full title: Over 180 years of research data and its software: An ongoing history of BGS Geomagnetism.

Programme link: https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/4430/submission/21
Slides: https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/content/events/4430/submitters/400339/submissions/76f1a6ea-a107-4a4f-b25c-85d553f61733/questions/66399/file/32f05b94-4738-43c4-b83a-ec4d210aba86.pptx

Abstract:
The strength and direction of the Earth’s magnetic field has been systematically measured in the UK since 1840.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) is the UK’s premier provider of objective and authoritative geoscientific data. The organisation was founded in 1835 and is a repository for datasets such as those held by the geomagnetism unit that are long-standing, uninterrupted, and continuously recorded. The data has been subject to processing and analysis long before the beginning of the ""Information Age"".

Paper notebooks have given way to computer disks and software has revolutionised data analysis. What was once cutting edge becomes obsolete. But legacy remains for long-established datasets and the associated software that manages, analyses and shares that data. The past affects present and future for researchers, and the institutions and RSEs that support them.

Technologies will rise and fall. Standards may be formulated but are sometimes usurped. Policies and regulations move and shift.

How do researchers and RSEs manage and future proof this ever changing landscape?
Here we present a case study of an enduring science project, the evolution of its systems and software, and the challenges that its legacy and its future brings for the people who maintain it.