Providing a large research dataset
Dr. Byung S. Lee of the University of Vermont requested a considerable quantity of data to use in his research into "metadata-based efficient ad hoc query retrieval from very large scientific mesh data".
Among the production work at Oak Ridge is global climate simulation; the results of those simulations proved to be of interest to Dr. Lee. ORNL's John Drake granted permission for Probe to copy sixteen of his 332 megabyte files - over five gigabytes in aggregate - and to make those data available to researchers.
We optimistically attempted network transmission of the files, but performance was extremely poor - ~15 kilobytes/second. Consequently we copied the data to 8mm tape (two of them) and sent them to Dr. Lee.
Evaluation:
Although this was a low-tech and low-effort activity, a surprising amount of value resulted.
- Dr. Lee acquired useful quantities of data.
Probe benefitted by:
- Establishing relationship with an ORNL researcher who can provide very large quantities of data;
- Accomodating a request from an NSF researcher, thereby beginning a reputation for cooperation and responsiveness with NSF;
- Receiving a reference from Dr. Lee in a subsequent grant proposal to NSF;
- Acquiring a set of data that can be used in other testing (and at this writing it is being used in ORNL-NERSC bandwidth optimization experiments).