Welcome to SciDataContainer!

This documentation describes a lean container file format for the storage of scientific data in a way compliant to the FAIR principles of modern research data management. The standardized data container provides maximum flexibility and minimal restrictions. It is operating system independent and may be stored as local file as well as uploaded to a data storage server.

Data containers may be built and accessed using standard operating system tools. However, specialized tools make the workflow much more convenient. A Python library is already available, others will follow. Furthermore, a native GUI application for Microsoft Windows is on the way. All source code is available on GitHub.

This is a project of the cluster of Excellence PhoenixD funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy (EXC 2122, Project ID 390833453).

The data storage server is currently only available for PhoenixD members. However, we intend to make the whole project including the server publicly available. If you are from outside PhoenixD and wish to get early access, you are welcome. Please contact us.

Contents

• Data Container Concept
  • Container Parameters
  • Dataset Description
  • Timestamp Format
  • Suggested Parts
  • Container Variants
• Configuration
  • Container File Extension
  • Configuration File
  • Example Configuration File
• Python Library
  • Basic Usage
  • Advanced Usage
  • SciDataContainer API
• Data Storage Server
  • Container Upload
  • Container Download