Overview

EDX is an online clearinghouse for historical and present-day data, which is coordinated from a wide-variety of sources to serve as a research and rapid response tool for energy-related data. This is accomplished with help from users. EDX leverages a crowd-sourcing approach, relying on interaction from users to both contribute new content to the system and help direct future functionality and capabilities for the system by providing feedback to the EDX Support Team.

Users have the ability to contribute 1) data or tools resulting from their own research efforts, as well as 2) key links to externally hosted data that they think are important for others to be able to find and utilize going forward. When users contribute data or an external link, they are asked to provide key metadata for those data including attributes, characteristics, and keywords (ACKs). This metadata is entered into EDX databases and serves as the building blocks for EDX. The ACK information is utilized to compile search results, which will allow others to search and use the information. All data and items submitted are reviewed for general accuracy and completeness prior to being approved for release. Once a contribution is approved, it is made available to the public for search and download/review.

In addition, the EDX Support Team fields all user feedback about the current functionality of EDX, addressing any bugs or issues with EDX’s current performance, as well as accepting suggestions from users on desired functionality.

Data, datasets, tools, and apps should be contributed to EDX by the primary owner or author of the submission, or “co-author” who has the primary author’s permission. It is the contributor’s responsibility to ensure that all team members are aware the data is being contributed to EDX if developed by a group/team.

Any registered user can nominate a link to publicly hosted data or information for inclusion in EDX. The goal of nominating a link to externally hosted data is to help NETL-affiliated researchers efficiently access important data resources, including data sources that have been utilized by NETL-affiliated teams in the past. Any registered user can nominate a link to publicly hosted data or information for inclusion in EDX.

EDX collects metadata about all submissions, referring to this metadata as ACKs. ACKs are the attributes, characteristics, and keywords (ACKs) of the data or external links stored in the EDX databases. The ACKs serve as the building blocks for EDX and are utilized to compile search results.

No, ACKs are metadata and are utilized to compile the search results that are returned by EDX. The EDX team has made the metadata/ACK submission process streamlined and efficient for EDX users. Generally, most users can complete an ACK for a new contribution in less than 5 minutes.

The 10 GB file limitation is a standard file size limitation at present for large files uploaded and downloaded online. If users have datasets larger than 10 GB there is an alternative work flow that supports addition of their dataset to the EDX database and servers.

Please fill out the contribution ACK form with all of the information as you would with any other submission. However, on the second page of the contribution ACK form, in the “Resource” and “Name” textboxes, please insert the following text: “LARGE DATA FILE PENDING UPLOAD”. Once your contribution has been submitted, please contact EDX Support and include the title of your EDX submission and a brief overview of the large files contents. The EDX Support Team will work with you to get the data into EDX.

EDX can handle large file downloads but the user will be restricted by their Internet download speeds.

If you would like to use a template to send out a mass e-mail to your work group, Please click on the “Refer a Friend” button in the upper right or contact EDX Support.