Thoughts on a practical database and data exchange for CELIA/LIGA members

Abstract A practical database should function to record information about a topic, a site, or sites, so that the information is secure, but at the same time readily available to authorized users. The information should be in the form of a digital file using standard and well-proven formats and media. Copies should be made available easily to authorized users, but the original database file should be ‘read-only’. As scientists will be using microcomputers both for providing and receiving data, the files should have a format that can be distributed to the widest number of potential users. There is no reason to demand conformity among end-users in how the data are handled in their own facilities; however, the manner in which data are transferred between the users is important. Practical considerations suggest that data in standard ASCII text format will be the easiest to handle. For the immediate future, data files can be exchanged in the mail or in person using standard ‘floppy’ magnetic disks. It would be a marked advantage to use the various governmental e-mail networks for both the international exchange of data and ideas. Concomitantly, agreements of a more delicate nature need to be worked out, to insure that the rightful ‘ownership’ of the original data is observed and credit given when it is used by others.