19^th International CODATA Conference
Category: Poster, Interoperability

The Information Struggle

Dr. R. Elizabeth Griffin (Elizabeth.Griffin@nrc.gc.ca)
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics, Canada

Astronomy, geo-sciences and atmospheric sciences are unique in their need to measure and interpret Change.  Changes can be periodic, secular or random, and may be anything from startling to subtle. Progress in understanding celestial objects depends heavily on one's ability to model the evolutionary and phenomenological changes which are observed.  As modelling techniques and physical theories improve, so research increasingly needs to access historic observations to complement (and sometimes clinch) an investigation.

Historic astronomical observations are separated from modern ones by a technology divide.  Modern data are recorded digitally, with associated digital meta-data, but observations made more than about 20 years ago are on photographic plates.  Because photography is a non-digital medium the information on the plates cannot be incorporated into research without a digitizing process, and because the era of photographic observing largely pre-dated computers even the meta-data describing the observations are not in digital form.

Astronomy research that involves photographic observations is utterly dependent upon the log-book records of the observations; knowing what is in principle available is an essential step in the chain of retrieving highly relevant data for a new analysis.  Because the log-books are handwritten, the information in them cannot be searched efficiently or made generally accessible.  Worse, log-books are originals; most are stored in indifferent conditions, and all are subject to deterioration and loss.

The technology divide has thus become a culture divide, and a serious barrier to progress in the very areas which modern techniques can now handle efficiently and effectively.

There is a crying need for computer-readable catalogues, yet the science community is remarkably backward about coming forward with the necessary resources even to index its archives of invaluable, preserved observations. Can we present a united front on this matter, since ultimately the whole of the science community, and the science-oriented public, will benefit?

Digitizing the photographic observations themselves and providing access to the them is discussed in a separate poster paper ("The Threat of Lost Libraries").