“If the data you need still exists ...”

Data management was an important part of my job for 40 years.
​
​In 2012, while working for the USGS in Santa Cruz, California, I wrote this email and sent it to one coworker (name redacted):

​From: Rex Sanders <rsanders@usgs.gov>
Subject: Re: DM Quote
Date: July 23, 2012 at 4:52:42 PM PDT
To: (Coworker) <coworker@usgs.gov>

Belated thanks.  Quote's been percolating in my idea factory.

Here's a restatement:

If the data you need still exists …
If you found the data you need …
If you understand the data you found …
If you trust the data you understand …
If you can use the data you trust …    
Someone did a good job of data management.

I prefer more positive statements.

-- Rex

Excellent science depends on excellent data management.

On Jul 5, 2012, at 11:22 AM, (Coworker) wrote:


I can't integrate what I can't find.
I can't use something I don't understand.
I don't want to use something I don't trust.
I can't use something that isn't there any more.
- 2010 NGC Workshop Report 

Several months later, she included the quote on the new USGS Data Management home page:

The quote stayed up for just a few months, until a web site redesign. But that was long enough for those words to gain a following.

​Why Manage Research Data, Columbia University web page
Guides, Tutorials, and Courses for Learning About Data Management, University of Wisconson web page
Creating and Collecting “Open” Cultural Heritage Collections, Digital Odyssey 2015 presentation, slide #39
Data Wranglers in the Edge of Chaos, T. Scott blog post
How does data become information? answer to a BAYT question
Don’s Conference Notes, Against The Grain September 2015 issue
How Data Becomes Information…and Information Becomes Insight, The Green Tie blog post

I've received a few emails asking for the source of this quote. I hope this page helps future scholars track it down.

---

rexsanders.com
​2018 March 27