Preparation of Data

• 2. Deposit Preparation
  • Collect and Prepare Data File(s)
    • Preparation of Data
      • The Privacy Act 1988
      • De-Identification
      • Primary Risks Associated with Data Breach
      • Common Disclosure Risk Factors
      • Data Protections
      • Data Treatment Techniques
      • Preferred Deposit Formats
      • File & Folder Naming Conventions
      • Zipping and Encrypting Files and Folders
        • Instructions on how to Double-Zip a file or folder
    • Collection of Data

In order to collect data, it does not matter whether the Data Custodian or Data Owner has a relationship with the relevant Data Subject, or whether the data and any Personal Information contained within it, was initially processed or obtained from the Data Subject by another entity. However, by collecting any form of Personal Information, the Data Custodian and Data Owner will be bound by The Privacy Act 1988. This means that both the Data Custodian and Data Owner have a responsibility to ensure that the identity of Data Subjects is protected. To do this correctly, a number of Data Protections may need to be carried out to prepare the data for depositing.

Preparation of Data Guidance Notes

1. Apply appropriate Privacy Act 1988 data protections to the data along with any other Data Protections required to de-identify the data.

Applying appropriate protections through de-identification ensures that the material is both safe to upload to the ADA Dataverse and that the Disclosure Risk is minimised.

2. Ensure that the data files are saved in an appropriate file format.

Having the files in one of the ADA preferred formats ensures that the ADA are in a strong position to forward migrate the data in response to any technology advancements and maximises the chances that other users will be able to access and use the data.

3. Ensure that the data files and folders are named correctly.

The correct naming of files and folders ensures that both the ADA Staff and secondary users are able to easily identify the files when accessing the information through Dataverse.

4. Double-Zip the data files and folders in preparation for the population of the 'Shell Dataverse and Dataset' in Section 4.

Double-zipping is required on all data files and folder uploads. A single layer of zipping is removed by Dataverse during the upload process and if a layer of zipping is not retained post upload, there is a known issue in Dataverse Version 4.6.1 that removes formatting from certain file types (SPSS, Stata, SAS, CSV and Excel file extension types). Therefore the double-zipping of files and folders is required to ensure that a single layer remains post upload to protect any file formatting.

In addition, if the data file or folder is uploaded directly without any layers of zipping, dataverse adds an 'Explore' button that enables functionality that the ADA do not want available at the present time..

Notes

Privacy Act 1988: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00025

Frequently Asked Questions

• What do I do if my data does not exist in an electronic format?
• What Format do my data files need to be in?