The Value of Being a Trustworthy Repository

Today, NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), a system of active archives is attaching the CoreTrustSeal to its websites signifying that it merits the confidence of its user community. But what value does being a trustworthy repository impart to a user? What does it mean to the owners and operators of repositories? What will it mean in the future?

EOSDIS was started in the 1990s based on a framework of discipline-oriented, geographically distributed centers of expertise, named Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs). The function of EOSDIS is to collect Earth Science data sensor measurements (principally those created and needed by NASA) and manage the data and many derived digital products. EOSDIS provides many services, including processing, curating, documenting, disseminating, and enabling data discovery as well as efficient use of the data. The EOSDIS has been operational over 25 years and many lessons have been learned relative to the TRUST principles. During the tenure of EOSDIS, many changes have occurred as we have increased the size of the collection from gigabytes to tens of petabytes and the distribution of the data to millions of users. We have had several stages of system evolution that have improved EOSDIS in order to meet both stakeholder and customer expectations. This type of evolution is an on-going process to ensure that our repositories remain trustworthy. It is also important that our own community of data managers and system engineers find value in being trustworthy. This paper will discuss approaches to change within a large system of Earth Science data and services, while remaining a trustworthy repository.