About
Overview of the Project
The Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS) is a voluntary partnership of organizations created to archive, catalog and preserve data used for social science research. Examples of social science data include: opinion polls; voting records; surveys on family growth and income; social network data; government statistics and indices; and GIS data measuring human activity.
A National Digital Stewardship Alliance Founding Member, the Data-PASS partnership works to:
- Archive social science data collections at-risk of being lost.
- Catalog and promote access to archived collections in the Data-PASS shared catalog.
- Replicated preservation of archived collections.
- Advocate best practices in digital preservation.
History
Data-PASS came into existence in 2004 with funding from the Library of Congress' National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) and cost-share contributions from all partner institutions. The initial project was three years and was refunded and extended up through 2010. The goal of the initial project was to create a sustainable partnership model for preserving "at risk" social science data. Currently, the partnership supports itself with (1) research grants for research and development and (2) small amount of support from the partner organizations for leadership, operation and maintenance activities.
Data-PASS has been highly productive since its beginning in 2004 -- drafting archival standards for the partnership, cooperating on various technology solutions for strengthening preservation and access, and rescuing a fair amount of data at risk of being lost. Also, we have been presenting, publishing and grant writing together. We have established working arrangements that have enhanced our individual organizations and improved preservation and access to digital information in our holdings.
About the Partners
Members of the Data-PASS partnership include:
- Center for Data Science, American University School of Public Affairs
- The Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) at Cornell University
- Databrary, based at New York University and at Pennsylvania State University
- The Electronic and Special Media Records Service Division, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
- The Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
- The Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University
- The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan
- IPUMS Center for Data Integration at the University of Minnesota
- The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) at Syracuse University
- The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
- The Social Science Data Archive at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Steering Committee
Composed of the Principal Investigator from each of the partners, and other representatives, the Steering Committee manages the day-to-day operations of the partnership.
- Karen Adolph, Databrary
- Micah Altman, MIT
- Sonia Barbosa, IQSS
- William Block, CISER, Roper Center
- Thu-Mai Christian, Odum Institute
- Jon Crabtree, Odum Institute
- Merce Crosas, IQSS
- Tim Dennis, UCLA
- Colin Elman, QDR
- Catherine Fitch, IPUMS Center for Data Integration
- Jeff Gill, Center for Data Science
- Rick Gilmore, Databrary
- Lynn Goodsell, NARA
- Diana Kapiszewski, QDR
- Gary King, IQSS
- Ted Hull, NARA
- Margaret Levenstein, ICPSR
- Jared Lyle, ICPSR
- Amy Pienta, ICPSR