It can be difficult to convince present-focused researchers to give a long-term perspective, such as that of a librarian or archivist, the time of day. (So to speak.) Here's my favorite way to do it: the "… and then what?" game.
You have digital data. You think it's important. We'll start from there.
- Your grant runs out… and then what?
- The graduate student who's been doing all the data-management chores leaves with Ph.D in hand… and then what?
- Your favorite grant agency institutes a data-sustainability requirement for all grants… and then what?
- Your lab's PI retires… and then what?
- Your instrument manufacturer or favorite software's developer goes out of business… and then what?
- Your whomped-up next-door data center burns up, falls down, then sinks into the swamp… and then what?
You get the idea. No far-fetched catastrophizing, just all-too-plausible scenarios that researchers really ought to have thought about already but usually haven't. If your service can position itself as the "… and then what," you're on to something.
More like this
I can't let it go. There is more here to explore. First, I can't believe that I looked at braking and then turning but not turning then braking. And what about braking while turning? I will model braking and then turning - but it won't stop here.
One amusing thing in graph theory is graph traversal. Many of the interesting algorithms on graph
are ultimately based on the idea of iterating through the nodes of the graph in some order that is
related to the structure of the graph.
A couple of years ago I could beat my son at chess every time.
Not any more.
Kate has been cutting The Pip's hair a little bit at a time, and this morning he demanded a trim. This is a somewhat fraught process, as he's two, and thus tends not to hold still very well.