Definition:
Bringing together two or more datasets to make them appear as one larger
dataset.
Explanation:
If you take similar datasets and combine them, either by physically
bringing them together or virtually making them available together, you have
just synthesised the datasets into one large dataset.
Example:
The Long Term Ecological Research Network Information Management
Committee combines the metadata for all 26 sites into a single source. Temperature, for instance, is a variable
tracked by all 26 sites. A person can
search the metadata collection as if it was a giant database of temperature for
all 26 sites.
Why
it is important: Data synthesis allows many small data
collections to be part of a larger, more useful collection.
Contributed by BES Information Manager Jonathan Walsh
