NESSTAR Project “Dream Machine” (Social scientists’ ideal data search & retrieval scenario)
All existing empirical data available on-line.
An integrated resource discovery gateway and search-system in order to identify and locate these resources.
Extensive amounts of metadata available (multimedia, hyperlinked and totally integrated with the data as such).
Ability to browse and visualise data on-line.
Ability to convert the data in one of a number of formats and copy, with the metadata, to a local machine.
“Active research agents" (knowbots) mining the net and informing the user when new data within their special field of interest are made available.
Efficient hyperlinks from the data sources to every scientific publication ever produced on the basis of a dataset.
Ditto e-mail/web addresses to all relevant researchers, departments etc.
Efficient feedback system to the body of metadata allowing the user to add to the collective memory of a dataset.