How to use Bagman (as researcher)

You have research data that you would like to archive. Bagman helps you organizing your data, describing it with metadata, packaging all data into a single bag, and submitting the bag to the archive manager.

Usage:

The main page comes with seven tabs: Project, Organisation, Researcher(s), Profile, License, Your Data, and Submission.Make sure you commit your changes to each tab by pressing the respective "Submit" button.
  1. In the tabs "Project" and "Organisation", please overwrite the sample information with the details of your project and organisation.
  2. In the tab "Researcher(s)", please overwrite the sample information with your details, also add additional researchers involved in the project when needed.
  3. In the tab "Profile", please select a profile that best describes your research data. As a result, Bagman asks you resource-specific questions abour your data. You may leave this information blank, but it is always advisable to add as much metadata as possible.
  4. In the tab "Licence", please select the license for your entire research data. If possible, choose the most "liberal" licence, which is the default option. If parts of your data falls under a more restricted licence, please communicate it to your archive manager off-line.
  5. In the Tab "Your Data", you can organize your research data into a hierarchical tree. Note that you must upload an entire directory from your computer to your browser. For this, make sure that your data directory has already the "right" structure. Once your data is uploaded into the browser, you can only delete subdirectories or files from there; no files can be added!
  6. In the Tab "Submission", you can review all your research data. Once you finalize your data, a CMDI file is automatically generated to describe your data. Also a "bag" is generated, which encapsulates your files into a self-describing structure, together with a checksum for each entry. Once you are happy with the information you see, press submit. Otherwise, return to the other tabs to change your givens.
  7. Once you submitted your data, a confirmation e-mail will be send to you; the Bagman archive manager will also get a notification email. The archive manager will check whether the package has been received in a complete and correct manner and contact you for further action. Usually, a data depositing agreement will need to be signed. Open metadata issues (e.g, licence) can also be addressed.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q: Is there a way to suspend working on the package, and resume at a later time?

    A: Yes, there is. Inside "Pack Your Data", you see two buttons near the top: "Restore Work" and "Save Work". Clicking on "Save Work" creates a JSON-based file that captures your current metadata context. Note, however, any data files uploaded will not be saved. When, in a different browser session, you would like to continue working on the state saved with "Save Work", then click on "Restore Work" to load the JSON-based state file you downloaded previously. As a result, all the metadata entered will be restored from the previously saved session. Now, go to the tab "Your Data" you restore any uploaded data manually.

  • Q: Is there a file limit or size limit for my research data?

    A: Yes, there is. I am afraid. It seems that most browsers have an upload limit of 2 GB, that is 2000MB. You can upload any number of files, but the final bag size should not exceed 2000MB. Bagman will flag an error in the "Submission" tab if this limit is reached. When your data exceeds 2GB, try to compress large files (or delete superfluous ones in the "Your Data" tab).

  • Q: How long does it take to enter all the data?

    A: It depends. Given that you have your research data already nicely structured on the file system, it should not take more than an hour to enter project and resource details, and the researchers and main organisation involved in the project. Many fields have default answers to help you fill-out the fields.

  • Q: Can I change data after the package has been submitted?

    A: Once you submit your research data and all descriptions, a CMDI file is generated from it. Before you submit the entire package to the archive manager, you can inspect the CMDI file, if needed. In any case, the archive manager who receives your package will contact you. He or she is likely to have some further questions and any changes can be discussed then.

  • Q: Can I assign individual licences to parts of the research data?

    A: Not yet. For the time being, you can assign a licence that applies to your entire data. Changes to the licence can (and should) be discussed with the archive manager in charge, who can advise you in these matters.

  • Q: Where is the research data stored?

    A: When you prepare your bag in the browser, it is the browser that stores all research data in memory. At this time, it is not transferred to anywhere else. Once you press the submit button on the submission page, a zip file (the bag holding your data) is generated and securely transfered and stored onto a server at the University of Tuebingen. The archive manager (of the chosen archive) gets a notice via e-mail that new research data has been uploaded; the archive manager gets access to the research data, downloads and inspects it, and will contact you for any further action that needs to be taken (e.g., clarification on metadata, license issues).

  • Q: Does Bagman runs in every browser?

    A: Well, in theory (and in an ideal world), the software should run on all recent Desktop browsers. But keep in mind that Bagman has just been released for beta testing. The main development and testing platform is the Chrome browser. Other browser may just work, but please report problems to the Bagman team if this is not the case.

  • Q: Where do I find the VIAF id for my organisation?

    A: Go to viaf.org (opens in new browser tab) and search for your organisation.

  • Q: Where do I find my personal ORCID identifier?

    A: Go to orcid.org (opens in new browser tab) and search for your name. If you have no ORCID id (you need to apply for it to get one), go to the website and sign-up. It is free.

  • Q: Your question comes here... (send an email to claus.zinn@uni-tuebingen.de)

How to use Bagman (as archive manager)

Please go to "Archive HQ" and login with your credentials. If you do not have access rights, please contact the Bagman team (claus.zinn@uni-tuebingen.de). Once logged in, you see the list of bags submitted to your archive. You can click on any link to download the bag to your computer. Once you have the data on your local machine (please make sure that this is indeed the case!), please delete it from the Bagman server.

Once you have downloaded the bag (stored as a zip file), do the following:

  • unzip the file in a new, empty directory, say "exdir"
  • validate the bag, by issueing the following command: 'python3 -m bagit --validate exdir'
For this, you need to install a Python package, see here

For any questions please contact the Bagman team.