Case Studies: Discovering Value in Legacy Data

This resource presents data exemplars and detailed case study reports from our investigations into unlocking the potential of legacy data. It highlights our approaches to meaningfully revive outdated datasets, enhancing their quality, and maximising their value. These efforts aim to provide practical guidance on methods for resurrecting data, uncovering value in hidden data sources, and accelerating scientific progress.

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Case Studies: Discovering Value in Legacy Data

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Guidance

Making Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) Machine-Readable Case Study

This case study explores the challenges of losing valuable raw data when it is embedded within PDFs as part of supplementary information (ESIs). To address this, data was extracted from the supplementary information of the paper titled "Towards the Prediction of Antimicrobial Efficacy for Hydrogen Bonded, Self-Associating Amphiphiles" (http://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202000533) and converted into JSON format. The process was carefully documented to showcase how such data can be transformed into a more machine-readable format, improving accessibility and usability for further analysis.

Resurrecting Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) Case Study

The preservation, accessibility, and reuse of scientific data are increasingly vital in contemporary research. Historical datasets, often termed legacy data, provide significant opportunities for new discoveries, validation of past results, and insights through modern analytical methods. Despite their potential value, legacy datasets frequently suffer from poor documentation, outdated formats, and technological obsolescence, complicating their reuse. This report addresses these challenges through the reconstruction of databases originating from Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) experiments, conducted as part of a doctoral research project completed in 2011 at the University of Southampton.