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Hi Duncan, Yes, the Qualitative Data Exchange (QuDEx) interchange standard (http://data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/projects/qudex ) is a fully developed and documented exchange schema that is used in production for the UK Service's QualiBank. While this online qualitative data system only uses part of QuDEx for object level description (e.g. categories and document memos and object relationships), the schema allows capture of all kinds of annotation of documents (in the broader sense) using acknowledged methods of XML pointer representation). The schema could be used as a software neutral format, but clearly would rely on import/export facilities from software vendors. It is difficult to map interchangeability as the back-ends of CAQDAS softwares would need to be exposed, made explicit or published, and often they are not. We are holders of the schema, and are happy to answer further question about its potential use. As data archivists, we believe that the sooner we have spss.por and stat transfer type equivalents the better. Best wishes, Louise __________________________ Louise Corti Director, Collections Development and Producer Relations __________________________ T +44(0) 1206 872145 E [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> W www.data-archive.ac.uk<http://www.data-archive.ac.uk> __________________________ UK Data Service UK Data Archive University of Essex Wivenhoe Park Colchester Essex CO4 3SQ New book: Corti, L., Van den Eynden, V., Bishop, L and Woollard, M. Managing and Sharing Research Data: A Guide to Good Practice. Sage Publications Ltd. http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/9781446267264 Legal Disclaimer: Any views expressed by the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the UK Data Service or the UK Data Archive. This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual(s) or entity to whom they are addressed From: qual-software [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Duncan Branley Sent: 12 May 2014 14:22 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Online storage woes and backups Importance: High An interesting article about the problems Dedoose had last Tuesday and is still working on (good luck!) - and some balanced comments about the risks of local storage as well. http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/hazards-of-the-cloud-data-storage-services-crash-sets-back-researchers/52571 The key messages seems to be an old one: backup. We run an NVivo server here and I've not been getting users to make separate backups. I'll have to rectify that! But if your backup becomes corrupt and you don't realise until too late, it would be reassuring to have a substantial part of your intellectual labour (coding mainly) preserved in a non-proprietary format. Does anyone have a table summarising the interchangeability of coding between CAQDAS? I know there were efforts several years ago to get a common standard, but have not kept up with it alas. There's Louise Corti's article: Corti, Louise & Gregory, Arofan (2011). CAQDAS Comparability. What about CAQDAS Data Exchange? [42 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), Art. 35, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101352. This addresses the bigger issue of data preservation in archives, but the same thinking can be useful for protecting your work against software or storage malfunction or needing to move to a different software package. I've only found ATLAS.ti claiming this: http://www.atlasti.com/universalexport.html ATLAS.ti: Universal Data Export ATLAS.ti understands the necessity to re-use research data for processing and publication in other applications. It therefore sports the widest and most flexible range of export and reporting facilities anywhere. Read more...<http://www.atlasti.com/universalexport.html> NVivo does enable export to non/less proprietary formats: http://help-nv10.qsrinternational.com/desktop/procedures/export_project_items.htm And you can export the nodes and the references (passages coded): http://help-nv10.qsrinternational.com/desktop/procedures/export_nodes.htm But importing is limited to fairly structured data: http://help-nv10.qsrinternational.com/desktop/procedures/import_data_from_database_tables.htm - and nearby pages. Or importing from another NVivo project. MAXQDA allows the importing of pre-coded texts: http://www.maxqda.com/max11-tutorial/n-the-preprocessor-in-maxqda/n-2-importing-pre-coded-texts Interestingly Dedoose seems to be able to import data from a number of CAQDAS apps (though done by their sysadmins): - ATLAS.ti - a bundle - NVivo - both original sources and html exports of codes - MAXQDA - both Excel and xml files - HyperResearch - a text report http://userguide.dedoose.com/content/working-projects#ProjectsMigration And it seems to be able to export a Dedoose project to Excel, which might have helped people caught up in the technical problems they've had. So it would seem that data plus coding can be exported into a less specialised proprietary format, which is part of the way to having the base data exchangeable between CAQDAS as well as reliably readable for archival purposes (in both short-term operational as well as data preservation senses). Could anyone shed any further light on this? Feel free to correct any misapprehensions - all done in good faith! Thanks. Best wishes, Duncan --- Duncan Branley Training and Information Officer, IT Services Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, LONDON SE14 6NW T: +44 (0) 20 7919 7286 (temporary number) E: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> *** Normal working days: Mon-Thurs ***