Recorded 31st Match 2022

Accessing, moving and managing data can be a difficult task for our users across ELIXIR. Sure, for small, well-known public datasets they want to download just once to their own systems it can be as simple as clicking a link in a webpage. But this is becoming a less and less common scenario. Datasets grow ever larger and more numerous, and simple HTTP becomes less adequate. How do you give your users more performant download options that won’t overwhelm them with complexity? What do you do when they want to process data on a public cloud but it’s sitting on your local storage? How do you give them a uniform way of accessing data rather than a hodge-podge of approaches that each data resource implements in its own particular way? How do you make it easier for them to upload their field data to management systems for further processing in a suitably secure manner?

These are just a few of the questions that we’ll explore in this workshop. We’ll hear how cutting edge workflow and data management projects such as Galaxy, iRODs and ScienceMesh are tackling these challenges. We’ll see how bioinformatics in Australia provides different tools for different levels of user sophistication. And we’ll talk about how cloud processing and data storage systems are changing the landscape of data access in science.

After each presentation there will be a short period for Q&A and a longer discussion session at the end, where we’ll explore what we’ve heard and the thoughts of our ELIXIR members on the topics of data access, movement and management.