Nesstar Publisher

Advanced Data Management

Nesstar Publisher is an advanced data management program. It consists of data and metadata conversion and editing tools, enabling the user to prepare these materials for publication to a Nesstar Server. However, it can also be used as a stand-alone tool for the preparation of data and metadata. The Publisher enables users to enhance datasets by combining a wide range of catalogue and contextual information, which can then be viewed within the Nesstar web client, Nesstar WebView.

Main features

• The easy editing/creation of DDI documented datasets with no need to know XML
• The ability to import and export single DDI file/language studies
• The ability to create templates enabling your organization to standardise its use of the DDI
• Adding default text and controlled vocabularies to templates
• A Variable Repository to allow the sharing of variable categories within a dataset and between datasets
• The ability to create variable groups
• The easy setting of survey weights
• The inclusion of frequency and summary statistics options for each variable
• The ability to import and export data to the most common statistical formats
• The ability to insert links to relevant websites or documents which can then be viewed within Nesstar WebView
• Functionality to manage resources published to a Nesstar Server
• The ability to link hierarchically related survey datasets

Standalone or Direct Publishing

Nesstar Publisher can be used as a standalone tool for the preparation of data and metadata but can also be used to mount the enhanced dataset on a Nesstar Server. This allows the data and metadata to be searched, browsed, analysed, and downloaded via Nesstar WebView. Access to these resources by these means can be made free and universal, or can be limited to authorised individuals in accordance with the wishes of the data publisher.

A Complete Metadata Authoring Tool

The key feature of Nesstar Publisher is that it is a complete metadata authoring tool. Metadata is critical because data are only made accessible through their accompanying documentation. Without a description of their various elements, data resources will manifest themselves as more or less meaningless collections of numbers to the end user. The metadata provides the bridge between the producers of data and their users and conveys information that is essential for secondary analysis.

DDI Compliant

Nesstar Publisher is also DDI compliant. The DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) is a metadata standard used for documenting datasets developed in European and North American data archives, libraries and official statistics agencies. It is designed to be fully machine readable and machine processable. The DDI is now defined in XML which facilitates easy internet access but the advantage of Nesstar Publisher is that the user does not need to have any knowledge of XML to generate data documentation.